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Let's be more attentive to sports facilities
Saturday, October 20, 2007
It's a given that the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government is largely taken up with issues other than sport as it settles in office. As we have said repeatedly in this space, the problem, always for sport in Jamaica, is that in a context of chronic resource shortages, it has to compete with the demands of such 'life and death' areas as education, health and national security.
So it is that we are especially pleased with the comments of Prime Minister Bruce Golding in an interview with our reporter on the occasion of the 2007 Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence last Wednesday.
For those who missed it, Mr Golding pledged that his Government would be paying priority attention to children in sport, the "nursery level", as he called it.
The prime minister said that while his Government would continue to help sport at the "national level", he believes that "we need to do more at the nursery level because the private sector is not going to go to that level with any great enthusiasm, it does not attract attention, news coverage and so on ..."
So true.
Pointing out that an "exceptional amount of talent" is lost at an early age, Mr Golding said emphasis would be placed on ensuring that trained coaches work with the children.
As part of the drive to put more resources at the nursery level, Mr Golding says he will be meeting soon with institutions such as the funding agency CHASE, the Sports Development Foundation, the Social Development Commission (SDC) and parish development committees.
We would suggest that Mr Golding's pledge made last Wednesday dovetails nicely with his party's commitment in the election campaign to develop a five-year programme "for the construction of mini-stadiums in urban centres where such facilities do not now exist". And, to focus on community sports facilities, including the compulsory building of playing fields "to prescribed specifications" in "new housing developments above a certain size".
There can surely be no better way to nurture young talent than to do so utilising physical facilities in or near the communities where the youngsters actually live.
In this regard, we believe a word of caution is in order. All too often community sport facilities are established with little or no attention to quality. And very often no thought is given to how they will be maintained.
All of which, for example, is one reason there are so many bumpy, stony, dusty, grass-less surfaces on show in local football. As any football coach will testify, it is near impossible to develop proper technique on such surfaces.
As the Government moves forward with its laudable plans to improve sport at the nursery and community levels, we would urge that thought and appropriate attention be given to the quality of facilities and their maintenance.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
It's a given that the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government is largely taken up with issues other than sport as it settles in office. As we have said repeatedly in this space, the problem, always for sport in Jamaica, is that in a context of chronic resource shortages, it has to compete with the demands of such 'life and death' areas as education, health and national security.
So it is that we are especially pleased with the comments of Prime Minister Bruce Golding in an interview with our reporter on the occasion of the 2007 Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence last Wednesday.
For those who missed it, Mr Golding pledged that his Government would be paying priority attention to children in sport, the "nursery level", as he called it.
The prime minister said that while his Government would continue to help sport at the "national level", he believes that "we need to do more at the nursery level because the private sector is not going to go to that level with any great enthusiasm, it does not attract attention, news coverage and so on ..."
So true.
Pointing out that an "exceptional amount of talent" is lost at an early age, Mr Golding said emphasis would be placed on ensuring that trained coaches work with the children.
As part of the drive to put more resources at the nursery level, Mr Golding says he will be meeting soon with institutions such as the funding agency CHASE, the Sports Development Foundation, the Social Development Commission (SDC) and parish development committees.
We would suggest that Mr Golding's pledge made last Wednesday dovetails nicely with his party's commitment in the election campaign to develop a five-year programme "for the construction of mini-stadiums in urban centres where such facilities do not now exist". And, to focus on community sports facilities, including the compulsory building of playing fields "to prescribed specifications" in "new housing developments above a certain size".
There can surely be no better way to nurture young talent than to do so utilising physical facilities in or near the communities where the youngsters actually live.
In this regard, we believe a word of caution is in order. All too often community sport facilities are established with little or no attention to quality. And very often no thought is given to how they will be maintained.
All of which, for example, is one reason there are so many bumpy, stony, dusty, grass-less surfaces on show in local football. As any football coach will testify, it is near impossible to develop proper technique on such surfaces.
As the Government moves forward with its laudable plans to improve sport at the nursery and community levels, we would urge that thought and appropriate attention be given to the quality of facilities and their maintenance.