Congratulations to our Jamaicans sports persons who earned the right to represent our country at the Tokyo Olympics. I only wish we could have been in more disciplines, and this is the focus of my article today.
The historical view of professional sports (inherited from British Colonialism), was akin to the “lowly” pursuits of the proletariat. It certainly was not the desired future of occupation for the established upper classes”, and served mainly to occupy and divert the raging hormones of teenage boys in Grammar schools.
The aspirational choice professions of medicine and law have robbed professional sports of many potentially great sportspersons, but I will refrain from speculating as to the satisfaction or earning of their choices in hindsight. Would they have been more financially secure with 10% of Usain Bolt’s earning? Well at least “Granny” is happy that the grandchildren are moving up the social ladder and all have “good hair”.
However the purpose of my speculation is not about randomly occurring talent, therefore I will offer a few ideas on organization; strategy; and implementation as they either maximize or diminish earnings for sportspersons and capital investment. I firmly believe that the development of sports in Jamaica requires a planned long-term approach that is specialized in components, but not dissimilar to planned tourism in many areas.
I am reliably informed that such an exercise was held in 1996 in the hills of St. Andrew and facilitated by my friend Dr. Aggrey Irons for the JAAA. Participants would have included the late Teddy McCook; Adrian Wallace; and Howard Aris. That seemed to start the strategic planning, and the outcome is quantifiable today.
Firstly, the choice of disciplines and infrastructure for the sports that are directly appropriate to age groups and gender must be decided in a professional and unbiased manner that is based on physiology and other focused criteria. For example we love football and push the sport at all ages on unsuitable surfaces especially fields without grass from Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary, to semi-professional leagues, and yet we wonder about fitness levels and unnecessary injuries that cut careers short.
This is true about athletics; cricket; swimming; diving; water polo; netball; rowing; volleyball; gymnastics; tennis; golf; archery; fencing; cycling; air pistol; equestrian; judo; wrestling; taekwondo; basketball; weightlifting; beach volleyball; boxing; field hockey; yachting; and many others.
Secondly, we must be able to identify our goals in an orderly manner. We must offer a logical priority that is aspirational (the dream), the funding sources (including government; public/private/foreign-private funding; and any other formats). Money is required in order to fund the infrastructures, locations, and supervised residential facilities, as required.
Article & Photo from: Public Opinion