Bri­an Lewis

Un­elect­ed and un­ac­count­able. When the un­elect­ed flex their mus­cles sport is less de­mo­c­ra­t­ic. Free and fair elec­tions, it is ar­gued, is the bul­wark of democ­ra­cy in any sphere.Any ef­fort to pro­mote and strength­en democ­ra­cy in sport gov­er­nance must be em­braced no mat­ter how both­er­some. Those who are ap­point­ed, or self-ap­point­ed, di­lute their le­git­i­ma­cy when they ei­ther in­ten­tion­al­ly or un­in­ten­tion­al­ly frus­trate democ­ra­cy.

Do not un­der­es­ti­mate the im­por­tance of sport gov­er­nance re­form. Sport needs gov­er­nance re­form and con­sti­tu­tion­al change–rad­i­cal trans­for­ma­tion.Sport stake­hold­ers de­serve bet­ter. It will not be easy, but stake­hold­ers will be un­wise to turn a blind eye.Par­tic­i­pat­ing in sport ac­cord­ing to the Unit­ed Na­tions is a ba­sic hu­man right. Then, if that is so, any deficit in democ­ra­cy and good gov­er­nance un­der­mines hu­man rights.

Cyn­i­cal ma­noeu­vring sab­o­tages ef­forts to en­hance and but­tress good gov­er­nance.Sport or­gan­i­sa­tions un­der­tak­ing sin­cere ef­forts to re­form their gov­er­nance will need un­der­stand­ing and sup­port. The process of gov­er­nance re­form is not a sim­ple one. It car­ries with it the heavy bag­gage of cul­ture and pol­i­tics.

If we want to turn sport in­to a pos­i­tive force that works for the bet­ter­ment of so­ci­ety the chal­lenges of gov­er­nance re­form must be met with poise and an un­flinch­ing and res­olute de­ter­mi­na­tion and com­mit­ment. Sport lead­ers and stake­hold­ers must work to­geth­er.In­vest­ing in the things that mat­ter. Dif­fer­ent peo­ple and dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives can make a big­ger dif­fer­ence. Fresh per­spec­tives have to be en­cour­aged.

No two sport or­gan­i­sa­tions are ever the same. Good gov­er­nance dri­ves sus­tain­able growth. As sport seeks to im­prove its ser­vices and run­ning of sport, in­no­va­tion and tech­nol­o­gy come in­to play.De­mand­ing ex­cel­lence in op­er­a­tional and gov­er­nance is not trou­ble­mak­ing.It is in my view es­sen­tial that sport es­tab­lish­es a rep­u­ta­tion and be recog­nised as hav­ing some of the best op­er­a­tional and gov­er­nance frame­works in the non-prof­it sec­tor.

Dri­ving gov­er­nance pol­i­cy and guide­lines and sup­port and train­ing has to be core strate­gic pri­or­i­ty. Na­tion­al, re­gion­al, con­ti­nen­tal and glob­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions must work to­wards shap­ing and se­cur­ing the fu­ture of sport.

Life is get­ting tougher for sport or­gan­i­sa­tions as the glare of so­cial me­dia and prob­ing scruti­ny ex­acts a rep­u­ta­tion­al and cred­i­bil­i­ty toll. In such an en­vi­ron­ment a strong gov­er­nance struc­ture will en­sure the fittest and strongest in re­spect of gov­er­nance will not just sur­vive but thrive.Pub­lic faith in sport or­gan­i­sa­tions suf­fered a se­vere blow as a re­sult of on­go­ing claims of poor gov­er­nance. Some sug­gest that fears and con­cerns are overblown.

No mat­ter what the di­ver­gent views may be its an un­de­ni­able fact that a sport sec­tor that is per­ceived and in ac­tu­al fact re­flect­ing im­proved gov­er­nance will gen­er­ate sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits to stake­hold­ers. In set­ting out and chart­ing a course for the com­ing years the main mes­sage will be stronger and im­proved gov­er­nance.Im­proved gov­er­nance will have big im­pli­ca­tions for sport.

Just imag­ine if sport or­gan­i­sa­tions con­sid­ered ath­letes, coach­es and stake­hold­ers clients and made qual­i­ty client ser­vice a pri­or­i­ty.Re­de­fine what is sport about? Ef­f­i­cen­cy, qual­i­ty or ser­vice? Or im­prov­ing the qual­i­ty of their prod­uct and ser­vice of­fer­ings?Cre­at­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for and en­hanc­ing the lives of ath­letes and coach­es. Rather than com­plain about the state of af­fairs in­no­vate and make things bet­ter.

Sport lead­ers can del­e­gate au­thor­i­ty, but the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty is al­ways theirs.Be it gov­er­nance or oth­er ar­eas sport or­gan­i­sa­tions should see them­selves as yard­sticks of qual­i­ty. A re­lent­less dri­ve to im­prove and es­tab­lish­ing stan­dards of ex­cel­lence.It all be­gins with im­proved gov­er­nance.The T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) Good Sport Gov­er­nance week be­gan yes­ter­day. A se­ries of meet­ings with Na­tion­al Sport Or­gan­i­sa­tions will be held. On No­vem­ber 7, a good gov­er­nance work­shop will be con­duct­ed by Pro­fes­sor Leigh Robin­son.

Bri­an Lewis is the pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee. The views ex­pressed are not nec­es­sar­i­ly those of the Olympic Com­mit­tee. Sup­port #10 Golds24 Ath­lete Wel­fare and Prepa­ra­tion Fund. Make your do­na­tions at any branch of Sco­tia­bank ac­count num­ber 171188.