PRESIDENT OF the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) Larry Romany is pleased but cautious over the plans for sport which were unveiled in the National Budget, for the fiscal year 2012-2013, by Finance Minister Larry Howai on Monday.

Romany, the veteran sporting administrator, stated in an interview yesterday, “we’re always very happy to see sport get funding but the whole problem is going to be the execution of those things.”

Howai said that work will continue on the construction of three major sporting venues - the Aquatic Centre and National Velodrome (both in Balmain, Couva) and National Tennis Centre (in Tacarigua), while a lot of focus will go towards the upgrading and maintenance of a number of recreational grounds across the country.

“Those are the same things that keep coming up every year in the Budget, the fixing of fields, the building of facilities, but the real story is whether or not it will start, or when it will get off the ground,” said Romany. “It hasn’t gotten off the ground since they have announced it, and that was over two years ago.

“I think the plans for all of these facilities (were) since 2007. The same thing about fixing fields, upgrading and so forth, it comes back in every Budget.”

Romany expressed hope that, in this fiscal year, the plans will start to materialise, both with the three major venues and the community fields.

Asked if the Finance Minister’s focus on sport was a result of Trinidad and Tobago’s performance at the Olympic Games in London, England, Romany responded, “if you went back to last year’s Budget, it had the same upgrading of facilities. So it didn’t have anything really to do with the successes.

“Maybe now, with the successes, there will be a strong impetus to actually get it done. But the things that were announced, are announced on an annual basis, for the last four years.

We’re hearing it since 2007. It’s just for it to start to get off the ground.”

With regards to track and field, Romany pointed out, “I think that the development of track and field will depend heavily on the upgrade of many of the community fields. The training and the coaching of track and field is done on grass, it’s not done in the stadia.”

He continued, “the Hasely Crawford Stadium was reconditioned recently to take international meets. That is fairly adequate. I know they’re doing the one in Tobago, which is very good. Tobago has tremendous athletes.

“It will be good to do the (Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella). But, more than that, is the upgrading of the playing grounds, of the grass fields that could be levelled and so forth.

“Training and development can be done on those. That’s a very important aspect in the development of athletics,” Romany ended.

-Joel Bailey

Source: www.newsday.co.tt