Please for some planning to impact sports development

A new approach
This Columnist proposes that the government begin to get serious about the role of sports in the national development process. In this regard it is being proposed here that the NSC be restructured and staffed with competent people.
A restructured and appropriately staffed NSC would ensure that there is a comprehensive national sports development plan that involves the government and the sports associations governing the different sporting disciplines in tandem with their respective international federations.
The NSC and the associations must then determine the best sports development options in which St Vincent and the Grenadines possesses the potential for excellence through to the international competitive level. This approach should yield a distinction between major and minor sports, with clearly established strategic plans to ensure that targeted goals are met within designated time frames.
Such a plan should involve the movement from the local level through to the high performance institutions abroad.
Financing should be allocated in a manner consistent with the foregoing approach.

Closure of Department of Physical Education and Sports
This Columnist suggests yet again that the government needs to immediately close the Department of Sports and Physical Education. It has been ill-conceived and in the overall scheme of things has essentially been established as the body responsible for the organisation of sports competitions among the nation’s schools.
This is a chronic waste of resources.
The NSC should become the organisation in which the coaches are located so that they can best be utilised for the development of the respective sporting disciplines consistent with the distinctions already made between major and minor sports.
The NSC would then be responsible for the following (not an exhaustive listing):
∑ Implementation of the national sports policy in tandem with the national sports associations
∑ Identification of national developmental needs in respect of sports
∑ Conceptualisation, design, construction and maintenance of sports facilities for
a. the general public (recreational)
b. competitive athletes’ training
c. competition – local, regional and international
∑ Recruitment, training and ongoing evaluation of coaches
∑ Collaboration with national sports associations relative to the hosting of regional and international sports competitions and related activities in order to facilitate an effective sports tourism strategic plan.