Last Thursday and Friday, I had a welcome respite from the “lakouray” and drama that has engulfed T&T in recent times. The contrast was as stark as night and day.
When USOC (United States Olympic Committee) president, Larry Probst, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Miami, Carlos Jiminez, and PASO (Pan American Sports Organisation) president, Mario Vazquez Rana, delivered brief remarks to the first-ever Americas best practices seminar for Continental Olympic Committees, it heralded the beginning of two days of thought-provoking reflections on some essential themes.
TTOC’s (T&T Olympic Committee) presentation was well received and that it came in for high praise, was an added bonus. TTOC president Larry Romany, who delivered the case study, received several requests for a copy of his presentation.
However, the real worth of the two-day symposium was the frank discussions and the candidness of the participating Olympic committee leaders.
Canada, Brazil Argentina, Chile, USA, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica were all unrestricted in revealing their plans, structures and methodology. Topics on the agenda included governance, marketing, athlete and coach development and their high performance plans and systems.
Honest and friendly discussions about various issues such as funding, volunteers, leadership, sport science, long-term athlete development, striving for medal and podium success while at the same time remaining true to the philosophy of Olympism and the Olympic ideals, spirit and values, created a setting that epitomised the true meaning of sportsmanship and statesmanship.
The Olympic movement is encountering substantial challenges. USOC’s secretary general Scot Blacknum came up with the concept and fully backed the symposium.
The majority of Olympic leaders in the Americas perceive the significance of the continent raising the bar to make sure that the full potential of the region’s athletes are on show in Rio 2016- a historic Games for South America.
The first session of the symposium was on governance, was instructive indeed. It was also not a surprise that there were some leaders, who did not recognise the value of a session on governance.
Good governance principles such as transparency, accountability, democracy, effectiveness, efficiency and equity are notions that don’t sit well with every leader and sport is certainly not an exception.
Whatever it may be known as in other countries “lakouray” is a feature of poor governance. To be fair those, who did not grasp the relevance of good governance, were in the minority.
Calls for the symposium to be held on an annual basis were made. One would have expected PASO to be in the forefront of best practices knowledge transfer but such unrestricted and transparent debate is not the forte of PASO. It was noticeable that PASO was very much involved with the organisation of last week’s symposium and it is with some degree of caution, one can infer a change in attitude or at the least hope that there is.
If anyone left the symposium without a commitment to take on board some of the ideas and plans shared- irrelevance and being left behind - is the certain fate of any NOC (National Olympic Committee) that remains dedicated to the old way of doing things.
That the TTOC is seen as a frontrunner among small NOCs, may not sit well with some here at home but “lakouray” must be seen for what it is.
The unforgiving reality is that organisations that survive far less thrive in these turbulent fast changing times create and innovate their own future and destiny. The enabling environment is transparent, accountable and ethical governance.
It’s the only way if the outcome is sustainable development. The Americas best practices symposium signalled that the Americas Olympic movement is prepared to address the issues and obstacles. The willingness of the likes of Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and USA to be their brother and sister’s keeper is one small step in the right direction.
-Brian Lewis
Source: www.guardian.co.tt