When our na­tion­al teams and ath­letes per­form on the world stage — whether it's foot­ball, crick­et, swim­ming, or ath­let­ics — it's not just a sport­ing mo­ment. It’s a na­tion­al mo­ment. It’s a flag raised high, an an­them sung with heart, and a sto­ry of re­silience be­ing broad­cast glob­al­ly. It’s Trinidad and To­ba­go be­ing placed on the map, not as a head­line of cri­sis or con­flict, but as a coun­try of tal­ent, fight, flair, and uni­ty.

There’s a deep sense of pride that floods com­mu­ni­ties when our teams qual­i­fy for ma­jor tour­na­ments or host in­ter­na­tion­al events. Even if it's 300 lo­cal fans plus fifty Amer­i­cans and a dozen Hon­durans and El Sal­vado­rans show­ing up in Cou­va for a U-17 women's foot­ball match.

Peo­ple sud­den­ly want to wear the na­tion­al kit — not just to sup­port but to be­long. Look at the re­ac­tion to the new T&T black and gold foot­ball kit last Tues­day: sleek, pow­er­ful, and root­ed in cul­ture and pride. The crave wasn’t just about a jer­sey — it be­came a state­ment. Sales spiked. The T&T brand got shine. Fan Zone and Fan Club moved prod­ucts. The buzz lit up so­cial me­dia, and peo­ple who weren’t even reg­u­lar foot­ball fans want­ed to get their hands on the kit.

This is the rip­ple ef­fect that sport has when em­braced and mar­ket­ed well. One well-timed cam­paign can lift not on­ly spir­its but en­tire sec­tors — from re­tail to con­tent cre­ation to tourism. Ho­tels fill, bars boom, and trans­porta­tion runs late in­to the night. Jobs are cre­at­ed, rhythm sec­tions get hired, and side hus­tles thrive. Sport be­comes a ve­hi­cle for eco­nom­ic mo­men­tum.

When­ev­er our na­tion­al team plays a friend­ly or a qual­i­fi­er at home, the sta­di­um lights up with colour, mu­sic, and pas­sion. Ven­dors line the en­trances, sell­ing every­thing from flags and whis­tles to snacks. Small busi­ness­es ben­e­fit from the in­creased foot traf­fic. Taxi dri­vers, se­cu­ri­ty staff, event plan­ners, DJs, and cater­ers all find op­por­tu­ni­ties for work. The eco­nom­ic rip­ple ef­fect is re­al and tan­gi­ble.

But to keep that mo­men­tum go­ing, we need more. More year-round sport­ing events. More lo­cal and re­gion­al tour­na­ments. More friend­ly in­ter­na­tion­als. More school leagues that are pro­fes­sion­al­ly man­aged and pub­licly cel­e­brat­ed. The Na­tion­al Aquat­ic Cen­tre, the crick­et fields, the foot­ball pitch­es — they should be buzzing with ac­tiv­i­ty every week­end. Not on­ly for elite ath­letes but for com­mu­ni­ties, schools, and clubs. Be­cause every event, big or small, brings with it op­por­tu­ni­ties for par­tic­i­pa­tion, pride, and progress.

These events are al­so soft pow­er tools — they shape how the world sees us. When we host a suc­cess­ful in­ter­na­tion­al foot­ball match or re­gion­al crick­et fi­nal, we tell a sto­ry about who we are: or­gan­ised, vi­brant, wel­com­ing, and pas­sion­ate. It en­cour­ages vis­i­tors to come back, not just for sport, but for busi­ness, in­vest­ment, and cul­ture. It sends a mes­sage to our di­as­po­ra that home is alive and worth re­turn­ing to.

Most im­por­tant­ly, these mo­ments in­spire the next gen­er­a­tion. When young boys and girls see our flag be­ing waved on in­ter­na­tion­al broad­casts, when they see the na­tion­al team in sharp kits, when they at­tend games that feel big and ex­cit­ing — they dream big­ger. They be­lieve it’s pos­si­ble.

That be­lief is a cur­ren­cy we can’t af­ford to waste. The or­gan­is­ers of the Uni­ty Cup have been ask­ing us at the TTFA whether this flavour can be brought to Lon­don when the na­tion­al team plays in May. And then if not in huge num­bers, they want to cap­ture the vibes on cam­era here so that they can show it on so­cial me­dia and on screens at the venue.

So let’s not wait for World Cup qual­i­fiers, the crick­et World Cup or Olympic years to show up. Let’s build a cul­ture of sup­port for sport — not just as en­ter­tain­ment, but as es­sen­tial na­tion­al in­fra­struc­ture. Let’s plan more events. Let’s pro­mote them bet­ter. Let’s cre­ate poli­cies that sup­port ath­letes, event plan­ners, and sport en­tre­pre­neurs. Let’s buy the shirts. Let’s fly the flag. Let’s show up and build, to­geth­er.

The im­pact of suc­cess­ful sport­ing cam­paigns reach­es far be­yond the score­board. These events are more than just games — they are cat­a­lysts for na­tion­al pride, eco­nom­ic ac­tiv­i­ty, so­cial uni­ty, and com­mu­ni­ty de­vel­op­ment.

So how should we re­spond as cit­i­zens, com­mu­ni­ties, and lead­ers? We should em­brace it. We should show up. We should sup­port our teams not just when they win, but as they grow. We should vol­un­teer, at­tend match­es, buy tick­ets, share high­lights, and speak pos­i­tive­ly about the po­ten­tial that sport holds.

And most im­por­tant­ly, we should use these mo­ments to build. Build stronger youth pro­grammes. Build bet­ter fa­cil­i­ties. Build net­works for em­ploy­ment. Build na­tion­al pride. Build hope.

Be­cause every time a lo­cal ath­lete suc­ceeds, they’re not just win­ning a game — they’re show­ing us what's pos­si­ble. Every match, every medal, every fourth-place fin­ish, every meet — is a chance to win far more than a game.

Ed­i­tor's Note:

Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Me­dia and mar­ket­ing. He was a FI­FA me­dia of­fi­cer at the 2010 FI­FA World Cup in South Africa and the 2013 FI­FA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. He has trav­elled to 88 coun­tries dur­ing his jour­ney in sport. The views ex­pressed are sole­ly his and not a rep­re­sen­ta­tion of any or­gan­i­sa­tion. shaunfuentes@ya­hoo.com