Hope rests with young athletes

Well, your Sunday brightens here and now. The only good news comes from the achievements of our young and disciplined athletes — in Beijing, England, Guyana, Antigua, Barbados, and, of course, here at home.

From the junior track stars in China, to our 15-year-old footballers in Arima and Marabella, the news is good, the mood is positive, and the future is bright.

You want hope? Hope rests with our young athletes.

And “Hope” was epitomised in a photo this week, showing young Haitian footballers dancing joyously to steelband music at the President’s House.

First, thank you,Your Excellency, for hosting the Under-16 football teams of 27 nations at President’s House last Sunday. Many of these children, including the young Haitians, come from countries where the President occupies a Palace, generally heavily guarded, and never accessible to 15-year-olds. The high point for many of these youngsters’ visit to TT will be that visit to our President’s House — a much more “welcoming” name.

That the Haitians, given their current experiences at home, could “free-up” to dance joyously, and without any disrespect to the President or his “Palace,” speaks volumes on the value of what we do, and how we do it.

Do you understand? Please give thanks to our sports, and to all those who work, mostly voluntarily, to keep sport alive and active, and to bring discipline, pride and joy to so many young people — over 600 of them, from all over the region, in this instance.

This past week began with the excitement of the inaugural Stanford Twenty/20 Cricket Tournament Final. Although CCN-TV6 spoiled the evening for all citizens of TT who wanted to view the final live, it was still a most exciting match for those who managed to stay awake for the delayed broadcast.

TV6 did not comment on my complaint (published in Newsday, but rejected by the Express) about their refusal to show us the match live, but other territories did enjoy that privilege, even though their team was not involved.

Congratulations to Mr Stanford and his team, and of course to Guyana, deserved winners, who probably needed the prize money more than anyone else.

Was the prize money the most important thing, or was it the success of the tournament? What do you think?

And, of course, congratulations to Daren Ganga and his men. It was a magnificent performance by all of you — in all the matches played.

Then the CFU Under-16 Championships kicked off on Monday night. I saw no one there from the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

Disappointing, but not surprising. Still, our Young Warriors, most of whom you would have met last August if you had supported the then CFU Under-15 Championships, beat Aruba 8-1, and then cruised past Grenada 5-0 on Wednesday evening. Congratulations to the print media for their full coverage of the previous evening’s matches on the following mornings.

Good going dailies! It means a lot to the players, and to the fans (and this includes all the visiting players and fans) to read the reports the morning following the matches, and not as “stale news” two days later.

I wish I could also compliment the radio coverage as well, but I can’t! It’s not your fault, Alvin (Corneal) and Colin (Murray), but the policy of interrupting the live commentary three or four times each half, to run commercials is primitive and insulting.

It is unbelievable that the station, advertising agencies, and their clients still impose their silly, tired, repetitive jingles and shouted “messages” on listeners who are desperate to follow the “live” action.

Clearly, none of the executives of the ANSA/McAl Group, (who own the station) ever listen to these broadcasts. If they did, they would not tolerate these interruptions, which surely are counterproductive to the goal of selling the sponsors’ products.

Let me tell you how it is done in the modern world, CT Vibe 105 FM: You impose the full advertisements on your listeners-pre-match, during the half-time interval, and at the end of the match.

During the match, you tell your audience, at pauses in the action, (throw-ins, goal-kicks, injury breaks), “This broadcast comes to you courtesy of ABC, XYZ and ETC” — ten seconds, no interruptions, a satisfied audience, and a more professional performance by you, the broadcaster — if you are interested.

Go for it, 105 FM, step up to the real, and modern world!

But back to the action. In China, our Keston Bledman reached the final of the 100m sprint, and finished seventh — another prospect for the future-there is hope.

Renny Quow is in the final of the 400m, and at time of writing I await that result. (Stop Press! He won gold! Oh Happy Day!!) Our Under-19 cricketers, defending their title in Guyana, are playing well, but it does not look like they will triumph again.

I hope I have to eat these words!

Lendl Simmons, playing for the West Indies “A” Team in England, scored a century against Pakistan. In Barbados, our netball women are rising to their former heights, and our squash players are into the regional finals.

On Saturday we have The Great Race, and on Independence Weekend the full Soca Warriors squad will be home to play Mexico.

Put your faith, and your hopes, on our sports activities, and uplift yourself a little. You deserve it!

So, have you been out to support and enjoy the Under-16 football, and the Young Warriors? And if not, why not? The school bands of CIC and QRC, rivals in the schools league, are both there, in common support of TT.

By the time you read this, we will have played our final first-round match on Friday against Guyana, also unbeaten in their two starts.

The Young Warriors did avenge the Twenty-20 cricket loss with a 3-0 victory Were you there? Have you seen the new mid-field sensation, Leston Paul, or the goal scoring machine, Stephen Knox?

Will we beat the Mexicans, or Canadians, Jamaicans, or Cubans, in the knock-out stages? What are you doing these evenings?

Sulking at home watching NBA or MTV? Wake up and get out! Pull a lime together, wear your colours and fly your flags! Support the only hope we have, join the wave and get involved with the future. Be part of the Good News. See you there!