Shamfa Cudjoe: Let's find athletes in rural areas

The Ministry of Sport and Community Development is aiming to unearth and nurture athletes in rural areas.

Th talent search follows ongoing bilateral discussions with the Jamaica government on bolstering sports and athletics in TT.

So says Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe, who recently returned from the Jamaica Study Tour, where she held talks with their Prime Minister Andrew Holness and its Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange.

Cudjoe’s visit saw her attend the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) Boys and Girls Champs, which featured Jamaica’s top student athletes in action, in track and field.

Speaking after Wednesday’s signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Export Centre Company Ltd and MIC-IT in Macoya, Cudjoe said plans are afoot to introduce several new programmes locally.

“We (Jamaica and TT) have already started working together.

"In January, an ISSA team came in, brought in teams and participated in a relay competition. They examined (our programmes) and we had discussions of what was happening here and what’s happening there.

“We are working right now to develop a training programme for the July-August period so that we can work with physical education (PE) teachers and stakeholders who are willing to participate.”

Cudjoe also plans to place heavy emphasis on finding new talent in rural communities.

“We are now going to be working to establish a club and get some buy-in from the ones that already exist to do training in rural areas, so that they can have access to a sporting club or some sort of sporting programme."

She said the aim is to identify new talent so that stakeholders can "help to invest in these youngsters so that we can have a wider pool to choose from and to work with."

She added, "The thing is, how do we now get into the rural communities, and the families that don’t have the money to send their children to a club, as TT is based on a club system? Not everybody has the money to send their child to a club after school or on a weekend.”

She said these programmes are not solely based on winning medals but about maximising the full potential of sport to develop youngsters personally and provide them with professional opportunities.

To achieve the desired short- and long-term goals Cudjoe said there must be major support coming from the government, athletes, clubs, schools, teachers, parents and corporate bodies.

Cudjoe said Jamaica’s Champs involves volunteers, principals, teachers and athletics coaches. She said many secondary school alumni groups also contribute a major chunk of sponsorship to the athletes' development.

She believes their upcoming initiatives will help to attract future investment from the government, corporate TT and school associations.

“They do so voluntarily (in Jamaica). They stay back after school and work with students. Whether that would go over smoothly here in TT, that’s left to be seen. But I know at some schools, there are teachers and principals on board and willing to go the distance.

“At the end of the day, it’s about our systems also, because in Jamaica the old boys' associations, clubs and alumni play a tremendous role in financing and providing resources for their school sport programme.

“In TT, all schools don’t have a robust alumni association. The QRCs, Naps and even in Tobago, Bishop's High School, I can see those groups coming on board. But there are some who may not have a strong alumni association.

“They also have corporate Jamaica playing a very serious role in financing Champs and so on. Over 90 per cent of their funding comes from corporate Jamaica and their old boys’ clubs.”

Cudjoe added, “For us, it’s going to take some more work, effort and great investment from government before we can woo the private sector and old boys’ associations to get involved, organise themselves and convince them that hey, this is an investment that’s worth their money.”