Greater commitment to sports required
There have also been programmes in sports medicine pitched at a regional level but permitting optimum participation at the local level.
Several affiliates of the NOC have benefited from the aforementioned programmes since 1988.
Continental (PASO) Programmes
At the Continental level there have been a number of opportunities made available to the coaches and administrators, including women and medical personnel.
The courses are pitched at an advanced level and several Vincentian sports personnel have benefited from the experience.
The Continental courses are however not as well structured as those organised under the World Programmes but St Vincent and the Grenadines avails itself of the opportunities provided to the full.
The local NOC has already submitted its own analysis of the status of the aforementioned Continental Programmes to the relevant authorities and its recommendations are now under consideration.
These Programmes are relatively new and should be so structured as to more deliberately respond to the identified needs of the member countries that make up the Pan American Sports Organisation.
The practical realities in SVG
Despite having accessed countless opportunities for the various levels of sports personnel among the affiliates of the NOC in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and despite the numbers of persons who have benefited from the training, we cannot be at all satisfied with the performance of the sporting organisations.
Certainly at the level of coaching the respective associations cannot always account for the vast majority of the persons trained. In many instances they have lost track of exactly what the individuals are doing. Often times it is the case that some people receive their certificates and use them merely to decorate their walls at home and/or their respective offices at work.