2007 a year of challenges in sport Part II

Taekwondo
St Vincent and the Grenadines recently participated in the Olympic Games qualifier in Colombia. Unfortunately the Taekwondo athletes did not get through to the Olympics. This however does not detract from the fact that the sport has been making strides.
This is yet another of the sporting disciplines to join the NOC’s Grassroots Talent Identification programme, seeking to bring more young people into sport and more particularly into Taekwondo.

Volleyball
Volleyball enjoyed a significant resurgence in 2007. The work of the executive seems to have reaped handsome dividends. Even before joining the NOC’s Grassroots Talent Identification programme Volleyball had commenced its reorganisation.
Much work has been undertaken in the South Rivers area where the association has a vibrant Sunday session. The Saturdays are used for taking the sport to other parts of the country.
In the recent past the association has moved to introduce beach volleyball. This has been a most attractive addition to the sport everywhere in the world and St Vincent and the Grenadines is no exception. With this variety needing only two players to a team we can expect many young persons to come forward and participate. It is perhaps an easier option for making the Olympics than the original version of the game which has been given a new lease on life subsequent to the introduction of several television-inspired innovations.

2008
We are at the beginning of the year 2008. We ought to have been excited about the prospects for this year but the budget presentation may well have stymied any hopes that we harboured in this regard.
The budget for the coming year is relatively threadbare in respect of allocation for sports. The heavy expenditures ion the rehabilitative work associated with our preparations for the hosting of the CWC2007 may well have so depleted resources available for sport that many associations will be hard-pressed in 2008 to meet their own development objectives.
Over the years successive governments have done little more than pay lip service to sport yet the associations have survived. 2008 may well be more of the same.
Whatever development does take place may well be as a direct result of the associations’ resilience in the face of another in the long series of unsporting and sport-insensitive governments.