The problems in sport

Culturally, traditionally and contemporarily, sport plays second fiddle to education in academics. The cosmetic changes made over the years did not remove sport from the shadows of education. The addition of physical education (PE) to the curriculum showed that the powers that be were just playing games. Universities worldwide giving credits to students for playing a sport revealed that the problem was global.

Remember when Friday afternoons in primary school was games time? Children were freed of the shackles of classroom activities and received temporary parole recess time, lunch time or games time.

Home supports the sentence with the incessant pleading of parents to their children to pick up their books. Playing is seen as an activity just short of sinful. All through college and university I was in my glee after classes, both to hone my skills and to keep my sanity.

Protectors of the system might argue that we now have a Ministry of Sport and PE is now on the curriculum and there are choices. They should be reminded that there is something called SE A, a disease prevalent among students vying for places in top secondary schools. The people responsible for this epidemic are the Ministry of Education, parents and even the teachers.

The routine for the participants in the competition is lessons from 7 am to 8 am, followed by normal school from 8 am to 3 pm, followed by another dose of lessons from 4 pm to 6 pm, Monday to Friday, for at least one year. The tempo is maintained on Saturdays and in chronic cases extended to Sundays.

The combatants can be easily identified by their stuffed trolley bags or loaded bundle of books on their backs and misery etched on their tired faces.

Come SE A day over 15,000 march to their respective venues for sentencing while half that number represents nervous parents.

Yes, there is a choice between academics and sport. What does the culture indicate? The pursuit of academia is recognised as lofty and reflects an elevated level of intelligence while those condemned to sport are the hard heads who cannot cope with the pace of the classroom so we send them to play.

I wonder what percentage of parents will choose sport over academics for the charges? But actions speak louder than words. The respective ministries will claim there is equity in treatment. The top students in SE A are showcased and of the 200 odd scholarships awarded each year, how many are given to students who excelled in sport? Sport is entertainment and these people are the highest paid professionals in the world. Why shouldn’t we direct our children to these high-paying jobs? It is not by accident that this has happened. Elite sports require a high level of intelligence to make decisions on the spur of the moment, take feedback and make immediate adjustments. One must admit that the parameters of the examination in sport are a lot wider than the classroom-type academic assessment.

Simply separating education and sport into two ministries is not the solution. Firstly, sport is education and should not be viewed as a different entity. The Ministry of Education should be divided into academics and entertainment. In the latter should be the arts (music, dancing, drama, poetry, painting and, of course, sport). These activities represent the finer side of life and are lifelong from which there is no retirement. Academics on the other hand prepare the individual only for a limited life in the workplace.

In the present system less than 25 percent of students have access to physical education. This stingy approach coupled with other factors (fast food, laptops, SE A) are decimating our youthful population. An SOS to the nation will make sport compulsory at all levels, offered in a package put together by the Ministries of Sport, Health and Agriculture.

Why these three? Energy is required for sport. Fitness is required for peak performance, which cannot be achieved if health is lacking.

Proper nutrition is the mother of all of these. So the triangle overseen by the Ministry of Education is sport, health and agriculture.

Is it going then to sport or diabetes? Statistics show that we have 175,000 and counting with Type 2 diabetes. A large portion have it from birth through damaged pancreas or acquire it from an early age because of sedentary lifestyle or bad diet. If the inputs in sport are defective the product is going to be substandard, making it difficult to attain professional status.

The world has gone the way of sport psychology to enhance the performance of athletes.

In TT this medicine, a legal drug, is unheard of in most quarters. Those who impart this knowledge usually do so too late in the life of the athlete.

Our ability to compete is limited to the physical, technical and tactical spheres. Hence we are defeated mentally long before match day. Let’s put it together.