As the na­tion stands on the thresh­old of an­oth­er gen­er­al elec­tion, we are called once again to re­flect — not just on the promis­es of politi­cians but on the pri­or­i­ties we choose for our­selves as a peo­ple. Among the press­ing is­sues of econ­o­my, se­cu­ri­ty, and health, one pow­er­ful yet un­der­utilised force de­mands our ur­gent at­ten­tion: sport.

Sport is far more than a pas­time. It is a dy­nam­ic en­gine for na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment, a bridge across di­vides, a school of dis­ci­pline, and a builder of dreams. Trinidad and To­ba­go has, time and again, pro­duced cham­pi­ons who have placed us proud­ly on the world stage — from Hase­ly Craw­ford to Dwight Yorke, from Cleopa­tra Borel to Keshorn Wal­cott. But for every cham­pi­on we cel­e­brate, there are thou­sands more whose lives could be trans­formed if we recog­nised sport for what it tru­ly is: a ne­ces­si­ty, not a lux­u­ry.

To the in­com­ing gov­ern­ment, here lies a tremen­dous op­por­tu­ni­ty: make sport cen­tral to na­tion­al pol­i­cy, not an af­ter­thought. In­vest not on­ly in elite ath­letes but al­so in the grass­roots, in the com­mu­ni­ties, in every vil­lage and every town. Build sport­ing pro­grams in­to every school, every neigh­bour­hood, and every com­mu­ni­ty cen­tre. En­sure that chil­dren can dream and train, that young peo­ple can find pur­pose, and that adults can live health­i­er, more con­nect­ed lives through sport.

1. Youth Em­pow­er­ment and Crime Pre­ven­tion

Sport pro­vides struc­ture, dis­ci­pline, and hope for young peo­ple. It di­verts en­er­gy away from crime and vi­o­lence and chan­nels it in­to am­bi­tion and achieve­ment.

2. Na­tion­al Uni­ty

In a coun­try as rich­ly di­verse as ours, sport brings peo­ple to­geth­er across lines of race, re­li­gion, and re­gion. It fos­ters a spir­it of uni­ty that po­lit­i­cal speech­es alone can­not.

3. Pub­lic Health

A na­tion that moves is a na­tion that thrives. Pro­mot­ing wide­spread par­tic­i­pa­tion in sport fights obe­si­ty, heart dis­ease, and di­a­betes — all the chron­ic ill­ness­es bur­den­ing our health­care sys­tem.

4. Eco­nom­ic Op­por­tu­ni­ty

Sport is a se­ri­ous busi­ness — from sports tourism to fa­cil­i­ty man­age­ment, coach­ing, event plan­ning, and mer­chan­dis­ing. A ro­bust sport­ing ecosys­tem cre­ates jobs, dri­ves en­tre­pre­neur­ship, and at­tracts in­vest­ment.

5. Glob­al Recog­ni­tion

Our ath­letes are among our best am­bas­sadors. Their suc­cess rais­es our pro­file on the in­ter­na­tion­al stage, bring­ing pride to every cit­i­zen and in­spir­ing the next gen­er­a­tion. But we have an op­por­tu­ni­ty to start mould­ing young am­bas­sadors on the ground be­fore they achieve in­ter­na­tion­al suc­cess.

6. Men­tal Health Ben­e­fits

Sport strength­ens not just the body, but the mind. It teach­es re­silience, team­work, han­dling suc­cess and fail­ure — life skills sore­ly need­ed in to­day’s world.

Yet even with these ad­van­tages clear, Trinidad and To­ba­go must do bet­ter.

We have re­lied too long on raw tal­ent alone. We must move from chance to sys­tem, from in­di­vid­ual bril­liance to na­tion­al ex­cel­lence.

We must pro­fes­sion­alise our sport­ing land­scape and treat sport de­vel­op­ment as se­ri­ous­ly as we treat oil, gas, and tourism.

Cre­ate a Na­tion­al Sports Acad­e­my

A full-time, state-of-the-art train­ing and ed­u­ca­tion fa­cil­i­ty where our young ath­letes, coach­es, ref­er­ees, and sports sci­en­tists can study, de­vel­op, and thrive — blend­ing aca­d­e­mics with ath­let­ics.

Em­bed Sport in the Cur­ricu­lum

Make struc­tured, com­pet­i­tive sport a core part of every child’s ed­u­ca­tion from pri­ma­ry school up­ward.

In­vest in Coach­es, not just Fa­cil­i­ties

A sta­di­um with­out a qual­i­fied coach is just con­crete. Great coach­es cre­ate great ath­letes. In­vest heav­i­ly in coach ed­u­ca­tion and cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grammes.

Launch a “Sport for All” Cam­paign

Pro­mote life­long par­tic­i­pa­tion in sport — not just for the elite, but for every­one. Jog­ging clubs, cy­cling events, cor­po­rate leagues, se­niors’ games — sports must be­long to the whole na­tion.

Turn Com­mu­ni­ties in­to Sport­ing Hubs

Equip every ma­jor com­mu­ni­ty with safe, ac­ces­si­ble spaces: prop­er play­ing fields, in­door gyms, swim­ming pools, ten­nis courts, and run­ning tracks. Sport must be con­ve­nient, af­ford­able, and lo­cal.

En­cour­age more pri­vate sec­tor part­ner­ships

Of­fer in­cen­tives to busi­ness­es that in­vest in sport­ing clubs, leagues, and fa­cil­i­ties. Let sport be­come a vi­brant sec­tor for CSR (Cor­po­rate So­cial Re­spon­si­bil­i­ty).

Mar­ket Our Sport­ing He­roes

Cel­e­brate our lo­cal cham­pi­ons more vis­i­bly — not just when they win a medal, but all year round. He­roes in­spire he­roes.

De­vel­op a Na­tion­al Sports Cal­en­dar

Or­gan­ise na­tion­al sport­ing leagues in crick­et, foot­ball, bas­ket­ball, net­ball, track and field, vol­ley­ball and more — en­sur­ing year-round ac­tiv­i­ty that draws crowds, en­er­gis­es youth, and stim­u­lates eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty.

In­sti­tute Health and Well­ness Poli­cies

Use sport to bat­tle chron­ic dis­ease by en­cour­ag­ing ac­tive lifestyles across all ages, link­ing health­care ini­tia­tives di­rect­ly to sport­ing par­tic­i­pa­tion.

We must change the sport­ing cul­ture from the ground up

Sport must not be seen as an ex­tracur­ric­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ty. It must be em­bed­ded in our DNA — a nat­ur­al part of how we live, learn, work, and so­cialise.

We must teach our chil­dren that ex­cel­lence on the field is as valu­able as ex­cel­lence in the class­room.

We must show our youth that dis­ci­pline, ef­fort, and team­work are not on­ly for “games” but for life it­self.

We must re­frame “sports­man” not as a hob­by­ist but as a pro­fes­sion­al, a com­mu­ni­ty leader, a na­tion builder.

We are a small na­tion, but his­to­ry has shown that small na­tions can achieve great things when they in­vest in their peo­ple. Sport is one of the purest, most pow­er­ful in­vest­ments we can make — not just for medals, but for the very soul of the na­tion.

The whis­tle is about to blow. The game is about to be­gin. The ques­tion is: will we play to win?