Sports in dire straits

“WE need to get it right!”

This from former World Champion and Olympian Ambassador Ryan Brathwaite as he spoke as a guest on Sunday night during a live feed from public activist, Olujimi Clarke’s Mek It Mek Sense. With the topics on Clarke’s second instalment of his Instagram forum being COVID-19 and Curfew, Unemployment and Journalism and the Olympics, Ambassador Brathwaite saw it fitting to weigh in.

In the wake of recent rumblings surrounding what many have termed the attacking of an Olympian by a member of the local media, Brathwaite said that there was much to be done before we all could get better at the sports industry. Noting that we lived in a society where programmes and initiatives are started and seldom or never finished, he said that the island lacked “development right through the system”.

“We’re not having that type of communication when it comes to the sports industry, when it comes to federations or associations. We need to get it in order. We need to sit down with all the federations and sporting departments and say this is what we need to do. We need to find a solution and start with marketing, we need to deal better with PR work. We need to get a better infrastructure in terms of finance and facilities. There are a lot of opportunities out there that investors out there are waiting to hear about,” he said.

Going on to note that in his mind, sports tourism and sports industry did not exist and would not be achieved unless we get ourselves in order, Brathwaite added that outside of cricket, which had already cracked the code, the other associations needed to join forces to better themselves.

“You have other sporting entities that do good, but I think if we look at the strong areas of some of these sports, we need to push it and help tag along with other sports entities. We need to get it right.”

Calling the recent happenings a result of having no respect for athletes, Brathwaite said that the mentality and numerous hardships faced by athletes stem from a need for stronger policy and implementation from the very top.

He also went on to drop a very big hint about the possibility of a partnership with the National Football League in Barbados and the Caribbean.

“As we speak, we are looking at building a facility for American football here and that is what we really need to start sports tourism. We need a new sport in Barbados that would get the industry back in a position that it needs to be in,” he said.