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Charles Griffith
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Youth Not a Priority – BDF Sports Program on the Brink

The news that the Barbados Defence Force Sports Program is again threatened with being shutdown should be a big concern for Barbadians. Full credit must be given to the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) for bankrolling the program when the threat first surfaced 2019.  For years the blogmaster has expressed concern about the lack of a…

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The news that the Barbados Defence Force Sports Program is again threatened with being shutdown should be a big concern for Barbadians. Full credit must be given to the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) for bankrolling the program when the threat first surfaced 2019. 

For years the blogmaster has expressed concern about the lack of a comprehensive sports policy by successive governments. Any society unable to give hope to its young people will have to battle with the consequences. It is a matter of public record that BEFORE the pandemic youth unemployment rate hovered around 30%. Without a national youth policy there has been an inevitable crumbling of physical and social structures. The national stadiums are an embarrassment if compared to many of our regional neighbours. By the way, have you observed it is standard for responsibility for youth affairs to be tagged to a junior minister of government. What message does it send to the youth?

Although a comprehensive youth program should not be 100% sports oriented, it is a significant component. In today’s world sports is a pathway to access academic and economic opportunities. As important is the opportunity being missed to create cohesion in the society with our youth feeling incentivized to be connected to society. Almost all of our sports associations are mired at different levels of mismanagement.

Kudos to Walter Blackman for keeping this egregious state of affairs on the front burner on Thursday’s as host of VOB’s Brasstacks Show. The opportunity loss for Barbados not spending $400,000 to manage the BDF program makes it a no-brainer that funds should be reallocated post haste to fix the problem, if it has not been addressed by the time of posting.

Is it a reasonable expectation the same level of protest from John and Jane Public reacting to an increase in the price of sweet drinks should be louder for the closing of the BFD sports program? How can we be that numb (not dumb) as a people to be insensitive to the implications. 

65 responses to “Youth Not a Priority – BDF Sports Program on the Brink”

  1. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    He should have an audience of at least 60,000.

  2. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    And still they rise.

    https://www.nationnews.com/2022/04/17/stoddard-simmons-good-gold/

  3. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Steupse!

  4. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Now let me see…..hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine.

    Wait! No more IVERMECTIN??????

    LOL. I hear Tucker dropped it too since…..

  5. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    Who is the judge that get locked out of Supreme Court office ? Front page of the Sunday Sun.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    See lawyer in the news page.

  7. GP Avatar
    GP

    .hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine.

    INDEED BECAUSE IT IS FOR .hydroxychloroquine THAT THE MECHANISM OF ACTION IS RECORDED IN HARRISONS
    THE SAME MOA THAT IS USED FOR THE NEW DRUGS

    ALSO .hydroxychloroquine, HAS A LONGER TRACK RECORD THAN INVERMECTIN AND A KNOWN VERY GOOD SAFETY INDEX…AND IT COSTS PENNIES.. IT OUGHT TO HAVE NEEN WIDELY EXHIBITED

    I DONT KNOW ABOUT TUCKER CAUSE I HAVE STOPPED WATCHING SINCE THE ELECTION THIEVERY AND I WOULD NOT USE HIM AS AN AUTHORITY ON PHARMACOLOGY.. I AM SURE THAT HE HAS NEVER READ KATZUNG OR PHARMACOLOGY MADE RIDICULOUSLY SIMPLE.

    NOTE THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF hydroxychloroquine, THAT WE GOT THE VARIANT IN AFRICA CAUSED BY A POINT MUTATION IN AFRICA. THIS IS WHAT I PREDICTED FROM THE BEGINNING WHEN I LOOKED AT THE CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF hydroxychloroquine. IT WAS CLEAR TO ME THAT SUCH A LARGE MOLECULE WOULD DISPLACE NUCLEOTIDES FROM THE MRNA STRANDS AND CAUSE A POINT MUTATION

    WHEN I TRIED TO EXPLAIN THE BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE GENETICS HERE ON BU ,, MY POST WAS TAKEN DOWN
    AS HAPPENS QUITE OFTEN

  8. David Avatar
    David

    Looking at the stadium where the Carifta games being held must be an intimidating sight for our athletes.

  9. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David

    Did you miss my comment on the stadium yesterday? It was built for purpose, Jamaicans are serious about athletics and their athletes.

  10. GP Avatar
    GP

    THIS IS WORTH READING
    They Just Issued Mandatory Ivermectin Use, What Happened Next…
    https://dailyheadlines.net/they-just-issued-mandatory-ivermectin-use-what-happened-next/?utm_source=Mailer-DH&utm_medium=email&utm_content=subscriber_id:74170859&utm_campaign=RM%20Mid%20Day%20Actives%202-8%2012pm%20p%20(Duplicate%20%231)%204-17…

  11. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    CARIFTA49: 4x100m Relay U-20 Girls Final

    Barbados wins silver.

  12. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    ‘Money’ may not be the only problem. Parents gone wild.
    https://apnews.com/article/covid-sports-health-youth-football-5db4156110f035c65bbcf3f5981dc576

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Society needs BDF Sports Programme
    The Sports Programme of the Barbados Defence Force (BDF) has made an indelible impact on this society and we support its continuation even in these cash-scarce days.
    There can be no denying that the military discipline of the programme is of immense value to its graduates, some of whom have gone on to forge careers in national and international sport.
    The disciplined approach, a hallmark of the military, inculcates in the members a frame of mind which focuses on team spirit and the need to pursue wholesome activity for personal benefit.
    These attitudes of mind are exceedingly beneficial to the development of useful members of our society, but after 30 years in existence, there has been some recent concern that the programme may be ending.
    We are therefore happy to note recent statements by the Minister of Sports Charles Griffith and Chief of Staff of the BDF Commodore Errington Shurland reassuring us that this key aspect of youth development is not at an end. We hope that the financial challenges confronting the programme will soon be resolved.
    $300 000 needed
    But challenges there are. As an example, some $300 000 is needed to maintain a cricket team in the Sports Programme for the next year, and the BDF has even had to withdraw its Elite team from the Barbados Cricket Association season which bowled off yesterday. According to Shurland, the programmes in cricket, football, track and field, boxing and table tennis require funding to the tune of $1.9 million per year.
    There can be no denying the impressive development
    of sporting activities into fullfledged, life-long professional careers for those gifted with the enhanced physical coordination which is a key factor in such success. Modern sporting prowess indeed can provide, in the vehicle of athletic scholarships, the avenue to personal development through the attainment of tertiary level educational qualifications.
    An ancient expression speaking of a healthy mind in a healthy body is often quoted in sporting and educational circles. It speaks to the beneficial impact that physical activity can have on mental and psychological well-being.
    Proper mix
    Similarly, the saying that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy supports the view that a proper mix of work and play is a key to balanced existence.
    Neither of these statements may have foreseen the modern morphing of various types of physical activity into professional life-long careers. But they contained the idea that the discipline needed to make a mark on organised physical activity can enhance the general pursuit of desirable objectives of an education.
    This young society is in the throes of grappling with a number of social issues, some of which speak to a core battle in which members of our youth become the focus of some of the more evil and undesirable influencers among us.
    The Barbados Defence Force Sports Programme has long been one of the more potent antidotes to this problem. For over three decades, it has been exemplary in providing a disciplined road map for those youth seeking to develop their sporting potential within a carefully thought out scheme of personal development. The society needs this programme.

    Source: Nation

  14. David Avatar
    David

    OVERHAUL IT!

    Oba: Athletics changes critical to youth development
    By Anmar Goodridge-Boyce anmargoodridge-boyce@nationnews. com

    Barbadian Olympic bronze medallist Obadele Thompson says the island’s top junior athletes are losing ground on their Caribbean rivals and an overhaul of the local athletics system is critical to get back on track at the CARIFTA Games.
    Thompson, the greatest sprinter the island has ever produced, believes there is now a clear disparity between Barbados and its regional counterparts and change is needed to churn out world beaters and return to the glory days.
    “I think the gap this year between our performances and those across the region … is far. Our position is being challenged and we need to consider that greatly. We need to appreciate that we are now behind so we need to start looking at if what we are doing at BSSAC [ Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships]
    and what we are going to be doing at the various meets locally and think of it on a national level and above the clubs. We need to get our best people training with each other,” he told Weekend Sport during an exclusive interview.
    “It is not an administrative issue but a reality of being in the pandemic. Athletes and clubs had to comply with Government mandates and unfortunately because sports are not as critical, I think we had a loss of two years. The biggest question to me is because we can’t go back, what are we going to do going forward, realising that we need to do something to try and salvage those lost years,” Thompson added.
    The 46-year-old who won bronze in the men’s 100 metres final at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and is a four-time CARIFTA 100m champion said Barbados should have fielded more than three Under-17 athletes for the region’s most prestigious junior track and field event.
    “I don’t know the budgetary constraints that they were under but if you are looking at it from a developmental point of view, I think if the budget was available,
    they should have taken more. I know people think about games later on and they have to budget for other meets in the year, but for most kids, CARIFTA Games at the junior level is the highest meet that they will compete at,” he said.
    “The more opportunities you give young athletes to compete against the best in the region, it will benefit them far greater than even going to a lot of these global meets. For the most part, our athletes get knocked out in the early rounds of the global meets, they are not comfortable and the global meets typically occur long after our season ends. CARIFTA is prime time for our athletes to face off against the best juniors regionally,” Thompson added.
    The three-time Olympian from 1996 to 2004 and a finalist at each Olympics said the CARIFTA Games is where many American coaches scout for promising talent.
    “They look at how well they compete against others in the region who are likely to go on to get scholarships as well. I would rather spend the money to get athletes at CARIFTA rather than spend the money for larger global meets when the athletes are not in shape.”
    Barbados finished the games in Jamaica with 11 medals [one gold, four silver, six bronze], equalling its tally in 2019, but Thompson said it should not be the only measuring tool to assess the team’s performance.
    “I also look at how competitive were our athletes across the board. Did they perform well with other athletes in their events? How strong were those events this year? I also look at the athletes’ form, technique and strategy, all of these things are important. An athlete may not have won a medal but it might be because the other athletes have had more competitions or are further along in terms of development,” he said.


    Source: Nation

  15. David Avatar
    David

    Noted.

    ————————————
    Youth making input on policy

    https://www.nationnews.com/2022/05/07/youth-making-input-policy/

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