Bri­an Lewis

In the not-so-dis­tant past, na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions would have fo­cused on ad­min­is­trat­ing rules and reg­u­la­tions, or­gan­is­ing of sport com­pe­ti­tions and leagues, se­lect­ing, en­ter­ing and send­ing na­tion­al teams to re­gion­al, con­ti­nen­tal and glob­al sport com­pe­ti­tions, games and tour­na­ments. Sport was am­a­teur and vol­un­teer run. Clubs came from the bow­els of the com­mu­ni­ties. Bin­go, cake sale and car wash were the fund-rais­ing events of choice. Fun and en­joy­ment the rai­son d'�tre. Sport en­gaged a sense of com­mu­ni­ty and was part of so­cial and cul­tur­al life.

There are many per­spec­tives through which sport can be viewed. Giv­en the way our so­ci­ety has evolved, can sport adapt and evolve to meet the de­mands of this and fu­ture gen­er­a­tions? Where does sport now fit in T&T?

At times it seems to have so­cial and cul­tur­al rel­e­vance and at oth­er times it is treat­ed as non-es­sen­tial.

One per­spec­tive that most na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions (in­clud­ing the TTOC) push is the youth agen­da–the im­por­tance of sport to young peo­ple.

It is not an un­re­al­is­tic man­date. But why are many young peo­ple frus­trat­ed and dis­il­lu­sioned with sport. Why do they feel sport is not meet­ing their needs?

Is it that na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions have not been as suc­cess­ful as they would like at en­gag­ing young peo­ple?

Re­cent­ly, I was speak­ing to some young peo­ple in­volved in sport about their am­bi­tions, con­cerns, doubts and fears. What came through loud and clear was the mes­sage that many young peo­ple didn't feel that na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions were ded­i­cat­ed to help­ing them over­come chal­lenges and reach­ing their full po­ten­tial. There is, at least in the mind of the young peo­ple, a dis­con­nect be­tween them and their sport lead­ers.

Is there a need for na­tion­al sport or­gan­i­sa­tions to pay more at­ten­tion to the young peo­ple and not just on their per­for­mances in the caul­dron that is com­pet­i­tive sport?

Some­thing is amiss and it is in­cum­bent on all of us in­volved in sport to heed the cry of the young peo­ple for guid­ance, di­rec­tion and pro­tec­tion.

Young peo­ple have dreams and they want to be giv­en a chance to pur­sue and ful­fill their dreams. They al­so have a point of view about what they need and don't need. Giv­en that the fu­ture of T&T lies with our youth we shouldn't dis­miss their views, hurt feel­ings, sense of be­tray­al and of hav­ing been let down. They want men­tors who they can trust and look up to.

Men­tors and role mod­els who will in­spire and mo­ti­vate them not to ac­cept medi­oc­rity and to al­ways act with in­tegri­ty who will guide them to stay fo­cused and con­trol their own des­tiny by grab­bing op­por­tu­ni­ties with both hands. Men­tors and role mod­els, who by their ex­am­ple, teach the young peo­ple to push them­selves be­yond their com­fort zone, don't pro­cras­ti­nate, nev­er treat peo­ple un­fair­ly, nev­er fail to pre­pare and nev­er leave for to­mor­row what you can do to­day.

Young peo­ple ex­pect their sport lead­ers to iden­ti­fy sources of un­nec­es­sary stress and work to min­imise them. Too many of our young peo­ple are say­ing "par­tic­i­pat­ing in sport isn't fun any­more".

Serv­ing as a role mod­el is one of the most im­por­tant func­tion of an ef­fec­tive leader. Sport lead­ers set an ex­am­ple. Young peo­ple take their cue from the be­hav­iour of those in charge.

Sport lead­ers are al­ways in a fish bowl. Peo­ple pay at­ten­tion to what they do. Col­in Pow­ell said: "Lead­er­ship is not rank, priv­i­lege, ti­tles, or mon­ey. It is re­spon­si­bil­i­ty."

For young peo­ple the lead­ers are who they count on to serve as ex­am­ples of the pri­or­i­ties, val­ues, and be­hav­iours they (lead­ers) es­pouse.

Bri­an Lewis is the pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee. Vis­it http//; www.ttoc.org and learn more about Olymp­ism, Olympic val­ues and the Olympic move­ment.