PM at opening of Morvant swimming pool: Build up youth, communities

The Prime Minister urged people to use sport to build their youngsters and communities as he opened the Morvant Community Swimming Pool on Thursday.

Dr Rowley said much was riding on community pools, such as leading youngsters to greatness and building family ties. His upbeat message, even amid the pandemic storms, was emphasised by him sporting a festive red short-sleeved shirt and by the lush green backdrop of a nearby football field and the pool's sparkling turquoise waters.

He joked that he wished to have attended the event in his childhood neighbourhood dressed in slippers, corduroy pants and a Despers jersey but could not find them.

"If you want to join me in being as happy as I am, you are welcome." He said it was a very special day and special occasion.

"What we are doing today is starting a process, a process of development, and nobody knows what the future holds except that we always say that the words of our national anthem appeal to us in the phrase, 'boundless faith in our destiny.'

"That tells us that we have a future and we have faith in that future."

Rowley said the pool launch to help the population was happening "even in the worst days of a pandemic which does not seem to want to be shaken off."

He urged the community to be grateful and to maximise the use of the pool built with public money.

"These pools are adding another dimension of physical activity and mental activity and sport and I hope competition along the way because that competition is what drives the spirit, the human soul, to try to reach the highest peak that you can reach."

He hailed the Coast Guard for bringing discipline to the youngsters they would influence and teach at such pools.

The PM said family members could "find a place in this pool" as they supported their children's efforts towards greatness.

However, he also hoped for discipline from people around the pool, rather than armed young men involved in criminal activities.

"I want to appeal to you that there is so much riding on this pool that your criminal activity could put an end to it and the dream that we dreamt when we set about to build this pool.

"I want to ask all of you to let discipline be the life-blood of whatever goes on here and that it never be a place where there is never any criminal activity which will attract the national attention."

Asking listeners to recall sportsmen/athletes like Hasely Crawford, Dwight Yorke, Wendell Mottley and George Bovell, Rowley said Morvant could put a child into the pool who could become a national swimmer at an international event representing TT.

"I ask parents, grandparents and guardians to help them, be a part of it, because I know the day it happens you will be in front cheering, and I want that cheer to be, 'I had a hand in that.'"

The PM looked forward to some youngsters at the pool ultimately getting into the Coast Guard based on their talent, attitude and potential being spotted at the pool.

He praised the Coast Guard officers working at the pool, for helping to develop the nation.

"Morvant you are producing a lot of young people. Some could turn out to be world-class."

Rowley said even a pandemic, the Government had not denied Morvant a pool.

He hoped volunteers could help in sport management to lift performance of various teams, backed by state assistance.

"I always remember my father saying to us, raising six boys, 'It's not what you work for, it's what you do with it.'

"I want to say to the nation, it is not how many millions we speak about, it's what we do with it. Today whatever it cost we have done well with it but it is the start of a process."

The PM urged people to be optimists.

"A lot has been done. If we do that we'll have a lot more pleasant days as we make the best use of what's available."

"All of you in Morvant, I look forward to you demonstrating that the time I knew in Morvant when I used to walk from that end of the community to this end for good reason, in safety at two o'clock in the morning...We had a cinema in Morvant and the greatest thing in Morvant for a young man was going to a late show and coming out of the cinema at three o'clock in the morning because that's a nice time to walk a young lady home. I walked many moonlights in this area."

He said today some people are afraid to walk the streets due to the behaviour of a few other people.

"Let us recreate those communities.

"Quality of life is not measured in dollars and cents only but in how you actually enjoy your surroundings."

The PM looked forward to community pools La Horquetta, Chaguanas and Point Fortin, also earlier mentioning Maloney.

He later told Newsday the Morvant pool was only for vaccinated individuals, in line with him last month saying community pools would operate as safe zones.