Bri­an Lewis

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) fo­cus on ca­pac­i­ty sup­port for mem­ber na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions (NSOs) is bear­ing fruit and the turn­ing point is un­der­way. Those who be­lieve that sport ad­min­is­tra­tion is fac­ing se­ri­ous prob­lems need not be alarmed.Based on the par­tic­i­pants sign­ing up for the TTOC sport ad­min­is­tra­tion cours­es there is sig­nif­i­cant in­ter­est in learn­ing about what it takes to be a for­ward think­ing mod­ern sport ad­min­is­tra­tor.

The par­tic­i­pants at­tend­ing the course are de­ter­mined to make a pos­i­tive dif­fer­ence as they share ex­pe­ri­ences and dis­cus­sions about the bet­ter­ment of sport.No mat­ter the prob­lems they have an en­thu­si­asm and pas­sion that au­gurs well for the fu­ture.This is not to say that frus­tra­tion may not set in. But there is a pos­i­tiv­i­ty and will­ing­ness to con­front the is­sues and wres­tle with the so­lu­tions that is ad­mirable. They are fear­less, in­spired and mo­ti­vat­ed.

The in­ten­tion of the TTOC in host­ing an­nu­al­ly a num­ber of cours­es and work­shops is a sin­gu­lar one–to help build ca­pac­i­ty, knowl­edge and skill.En­hanc­ing the abil­i­ty of those who have a keen in­ter­est in sport ad­min­is­tra­tion is an im­por­tant pri­or­i­ty.En­cour­ag­ing par­tic­i­pants to take the ini­tia­tive. To un­lock their sport lead­er­ship po­ten­tial so as to trans­form T&T sport is well worth the ef­fort.

Re­cent par­tic­i­pants in­clude a num­ber of past and cur­rent na­tion­al lev­el ath­letes who have signed up for the cours­es and work­shops and have stuck it out to the end.Un­earthing a new breed of sport ad­min­is­tra­tors who are imag­i­na­tive and bright these dis­rup­tors aren't con­tent­ed to com­plain and do noth­ing. They are will­ing to get up and get, hard­work­ing, com­mit­ted and will­ing.

They are hon­est in fac­ing up to the ma­jor is­sues fac­ing T&T sport–the econ­o­my and oth­er mat­ters of pub­lic con­cern.That there are struc­tur­al and sys­temic so­cial and eco­nom­ic prob­lems fac­ing sport isn't over­whelm­ing and in­tim­i­dat­ing the new breed of course par­tic­i­pants.They are pre­pared to chal­lenge the sta­tus quo and those who are in­ef­fec­tive in rep­re­sent­ing the po­si­tion of sport and the ath­letes.

The mod­erni­sa­tion of T&T sport is an on­go­ing process.It is im­por­tant that the TTOC through Olympic Sol­i­dar­i­ty pro­grammes and fund­ing con­tin­ue to strength­en na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions man­age­ment and gov­er­nance struc­tures.Through the tools pro­vid­ed by Olympic Sol­i­dar­i­ty the TTOC has been able to con­tin­ue to de­vel­op sport ad­min­is­tra­tion train­ing cours­es.

Mov­ing past the sport ad­min­is­tra­tors' course is the ad­vanced sports man­age­ment course which is based on stu­dent par­tic­i­pa­tion, prac­ti­cal im­ple­men­ta­tion of the ma­te­r­i­al stud­ied through case stud­ies, shar­ing of ex­pe­ri­ences and the de­vel­op­ment of a learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty.The aim of the ad­vanced course is to give a new per­spec­tive on sports or­gan­i­sa­tions.

The case study ap­proach is aimed at plac­ing the par­tic­i­pants in re­al­i­ty based sit­u­a­tions while think­ing about fu­ture so­lu­tions.The sports ad­min­is­tra­tors course pro­vides ba­sic train­ing over a short pe­ri­od. The ad­vanced sports man­age­ment course is com­prised of sev­er­al mod­ules and an em­pha­sis on ac­qui­si­tion of the skills nec­es­sary for sports man­age­ment.

Sport in T&T will re­peat the ben­e­fit. The re­al chal­lenge is for the old­er heads and thought lead­ers to not feel threat­ened by the new ideas and fresh think­ing.The TTOC cours­es and work­shops are an in­cu­ba­tor of cre­ativ­i­ty and in­no­va­tion. The dawn of a new era of T&T sport man­agers and ad­min­is­tra­tors is here and not a mo­ment too soon. Let's do it. Em­brace and em­pow­er change.

�2 Bri­an Lewis is the pres­i­dent of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC). The views ex­pressed are not nec­es­sar­i­ly those of the na­tion­al Olympic com­mit­tee.

Sup­port #10golds24 ath­lete wel­fare and prepa­ra­tion fund. Make your do­na­tion to any Branch of Sco­tia Bank ac­count #171188.