Playing sport with heroes

OUR POOR sporting heroes. No matter what level they are on – whether Olympian or just getting started – it seems many just cannot catch a break.

Training has been disrupted by covid19. Sporting facilities have been closed or subject to restriction when reopened. The pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of marquee events like the Olympics for which some have been preparing for years, if not lifetimes.

And the concurrent global economic crisis has dried up sponsorship across the board.

So it is disappointing that several state-funded bodies that should be helping out are busy fending off bacchanal.

Footballers remain in limbo, with FIFA saying it will come to a decision on the TT suspension “in due course” even after the TT Football Association recently bowed to pressure. The Arima Race Club is facing tough questions about its management of its covid19 measures.

And this week it became palpably clear that another organisation, TT Cycling Federation (TTCF), has not been able to amicably resolve its impasse with Njisane Phillip.

Mr Phillip is by far the most high-profile cyclist this country has seen since Gene Samuel. Like Mr Samuel, he has represented this country at the Olympics. In 2012, he narrowly missed out on a medal, placing fourth in the men’s cycling sprint.

Though he did not stand on the podium, Mr Phillip was nonetheless successful in bringing attention to this country. Arguably, his efforts have helped reinvigorate local cycling at a time when more and more people are using bicycles because of the climate crisis.

The abrupt departure of national cycling coach Erin Hartwell and lingering questions over a doping scandal have now been followed by an odd tiff over the fate of five Mavic wheels, valued at US$15,600, taken days before Christmas last year.

TTCF lawyers have issued correspondence effectively accusing Mr Phillip of theft; Mr Phillip has countered it is the TTCF that has done the siphoning – accessing a million-dollar grant but not using the money properly.

The only cycling here involves these sides going round in circles.

Meanwhile, we are left to wonder how programmes like the Sport and Culture Fund and the Elite Athlete Assistance Programme (EAAP) are working. Are they working at all? The official EAAP policy does not appear to have been updated in over a decade. Grant disbursals began with a bang and fizzled out.

Amid all of this, young people like the promising Shirley Wolfe, 13, who trains part-time with the TT Boxing Association, would like to make a contribution. Ms Wolfe is in dire need of support.

But with the field of play in such disarray, to whom can she turn?