Trinidad and To­ba­go wel­comes Mr Phillip Watts as our new Min­is­ter of Sport and Youth Af­fairs—a role filled with both chal­lenge and op­por­tu­ni­ty. At a time when our ath­letes, coach­es, and com­mu­ni­ties yearn for re­vi­tal­i­sa­tion, the coun­try looks to Mr Watts not just as an ad­min­is­tra­tor but as a vi­sion­ary who un­der­stands the im­mense pow­er of sport to unite, up­lift, and trans­form.

Sport is more than games played on fields and courts. It is a ve­hi­cle for na­tion­al pride, a bridge across eth­nic, so­cial, and eco­nom­ic di­vides. It is youth de­vel­op­ment, crime pre­ven­tion, men­tal health sup­port, and eco­nom­ic op­por­tu­ni­ty. Our ath­letes are not just per­form­ers; they are am­bas­sadors, role mod­els, and sources of in­spi­ra­tion.

To un­lock sport’s full po­ten­tial, the min­istry must not op­er­ate in iso­la­tion. Col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion can fos­ter struc­tured school sports and schol­ar­ship path­ways. Work­ing with na­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty can strength­en youth in­ter­ven­tion pro­grammes, steer­ing vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties to­ward dis­ci­pline and pur­pose. Part­ner­ing with tourism can help build a true sport tourism sec­tor, at­tract­ing in­ter­na­tion­al tour­na­ments, train­ing camps, and fans.

It’s time to in­vest se­ri­ous­ly in our in­fra­struc­ture—not just build­ing new fa­cil­i­ties but main­tain­ing and up­grad­ing the ones we al­ready have. Our sta­dia, com­mu­ni­ty grounds, swim­ming pools, and courts must be safe, func­tion­al, and ac­ces­si­ble. Ath­letes need spaces where they can train at elite lev­els with­out leav­ing the coun­try.

Just as im­por­tant­ly, ath­letes must be placed at the cen­tre of de­ci­sion-mak­ing. They should feel heard, val­ued, and sup­port­ed—not just when they bring home medals, but through every phase of their ca­reers. From time­ly fund­ing and med­ical sup­port to men­tal health re­sources and tran­si­tion plan­ning post-re­tire­ment, putting peo­ple first is what earns loy­al­ty and fos­ters ex­cel­lence.

There must be clear ac­count­abil­i­ty from sport­ing bod­ies, as­so­ci­a­tions, and gov­ern­ment stake­hold­ers alike. Trans­paren­cy, reg­u­lar au­dits, and per­for­mance met­rics should be stan­dard. Cor­rup­tion, mis­man­age­ment, or ne­glect have no place in a min­istry that touch­es the hearts of a na­tion.

And now more than ever, with the world watch­ing, it’s time to rise to the oc­ca­sion. Ma­jor sport­ing events like the Olympics, ICC Crick­et World Cup, and the up­com­ing FI­FA World Cup have the pow­er to ig­nite the na­tion­al spir­it like few things can. These events of­fer not just mo­ments of glo­ry, but al­so in­spi­ra­tion, cul­tur­al pride, and the kind of shared joy that unites a na­tion.

With 2026 on the hori­zon, there is no big­ger sport­ing pri­or­i­ty than our na­tion­al foot­ball team’s push to qual­i­fy for the FI­FA World Cup. This is not just about the game—it is about na­tion­al morale, about giv­ing young boys and girls across Laven­tille, Cou­va, San Fer­nan­do, and To­ba­go the be­lief that they too can wear red, white, and black on the world’s biggest stage. World Cup qual­i­fi­ca­tion is a bea­con of hope, and the in­vest­ment need­ed—whether through coach­ing sup­port, play­er de­vel­op­ment, or in­ter­na­tion­al ex­po­sure—must be made ur­gent­ly and strate­gi­cal­ly.

More­over, Trinidad and To­ba­go must see it­self not just as a com­peti­tor but as a host. The Caribbean is per­fect­ly po­si­tioned to tap in­to the pre-World Cup mo­men­tum. With up­grad­ed fa­cil­i­ties, we can at­tract in­ter­na­tion­al teams seek­ing warm-weath­er camps and friend­ly match­es. We can be­come a re­gion­al hub for foot­ball de­vel­op­ment, tour­na­ments, and train­ing—wel­com­ing na­tion­al teams, clubs, and fans to our shores. This is sport tourism at its finest: flights filled, ho­tels booked, ven­dors thriv­ing, cul­ture show­cased, and com­mu­ni­ties en­gaged.

This op­por­tu­ni­ty isn’t lim­it­ed to foot­ball. Ath­let­ics, crick­et, swim­ming, ten­nis, and even less-pub­li­cised dis­ci­plines like cy­cling or vol­ley­ball can ben­e­fit from in­ter­na­tion­al part­ner­ships and camps. With the right vi­sion, Trinidad and To­ba­go can build a sports econ­o­my that dri­ves jobs, rev­enue, and glob­al at­ten­tion.

We must al­so en­sure that less­er-known sports are not for­got­ten. Whether it’s squash, gym­nas­tics, sail­ing, mar­tial arts, or es­ports—every dis­ci­pline mat­ters. Every ath­lete, re­gard­less of the spot­light, de­serves in­vest­ment, en­cour­age­ment, and re­spect.

Min­is­ter Watts, the road ahead is not easy—but it is filled with promise. Our youth are watch­ing. Our ath­letes are wait­ing. Our na­tion is hope­ful. With em­pa­thy, bold lead­er­ship, and col­lab­o­ra­tion, sport can be a dri­ving force for pa­tri­o­tism, eco­nom­ic growth, and na­tion­al uni­ty.

Let’s be­gin.