Triathlon president wants sport to move beyond West

PRESIDENT of the TT Triathlon Federation (TTTF) Paul Hee Houng wants to drastically expand the number of schools taking part in the sport and ensure it’s not just limited to West Trinidad. He was buoyed by the showing of non-traditional schools such as Parvati Girls’ Hindu College of Debe, as well as Fyzabad Secondary School, who had athletes at last Sunday’s National Primary and Secondary Schools Triathlon Championships. However, he wants more of these schools as opposed to the field being dominated by schools such as Fatima College, St Mary’s College and St Joseph’s Convent.

“I’m always about pushing sports further away from the West. I want to go more East and South so when I see people from Fyzabad Secondary coming in, it’s very exciting. We also had Arima Secondary and that was great, and we also had someone from Parvati Girls’, so that was another happy moment. I would like more students coming in like that to grow the fraternity,” he said after the meet.

Hee Houng revealed their community coaches programme is what he intends to use as the catalyst for this, with one outreach session already occurring successfully last April. “It’s basically taking parents, teachers and schools to some of the lesser-known areas because other schools in the West like Dunross actually have established coaches. This initiative is for the lesser-known areas and the people and schools who want to get to know the sport and participate,” he continued, revealing Central is also a major target.

“It’s how we intend to grow the fraternity and teach the basics about training because sport is such a science now. So far we had about 13 or 14 people from the non-traditional areas and that’s how we got these other schools to come in on Sunday,” Hee Houng added. He admitted, however, it could get tricky as there are logistical issues to work around such as clashes with exams, plus various schools operate on different schedules. That said, he believes this is the key to unearthing new talents and harnessing them the way Fatima nurtures young stars like James Castagne-Hay, as Hee Houng knows there are others like him across the island.

He said they want the total primary and secondary school intake to reach around 100 schools in future meets, something they are admittedly falling short of at present. Hee Houng also made it clear he’d prefer a wider array of schools who don’t send as much students per school, rather than a few schools who send several students, as this doesn’t grow the sport the way he envisions.

Hee Houng also elaborated that his hard-working Executive and the Federation on the whole would need more funds to attain their goals. Funding has been difficult as the Ministry of Sport has been cutting back on subventions for the sport over the years, although he did commend them for aiding with their Carifta athletes. As for increasing their reach cross-country, he thanked Atlantic, First Citizens, NLCB and other sponsors who aid, as well as friends and family of the fraternity who assist on private fund-raisers. Despite corporate buy-in, he does believe they cannot become dependant on government allocations alone and need to become more self-sustaining.

Ultimately, he thinks the National Aquatic Centre being in Couva is a great step towards this expansion and will help them bring other schools into the fray, encouraging new sponsors to see it as a true corporate social responsibility move for the entire country. “We have a good product and we don’t muck it up!” he concluded, making it clear they will ensure they maintain a high standard of professionalism to enhance youth development.