Outgoing Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Larry Romany believes current low participation levels in sport can jeopardise this country's future Olympic performances.

Romany was delivering the keynote address at the TTOC 18th annual award ceremony at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain on Saturday evening.

Romany acknowledged T&T's historic Olympic medal haul and performance in London back in August. But the former cycling coach is concerned about the direction sport was taking in this country.

"A lot of people have celebrated the success of the Olympic team over the last four months, but nobody can tell the story of the Olympic movement better than the TTOC," he said. " I am here to tell you that we are not at all satisfied. We are not satisfied for several reasons. We don't see a sustainable pathway at present for the development of sport in Trinidad, primarily because the young people of T&T are no longer interested in participating in sport.

"This is not a simple solution, this is a generational problem and we have to work assiduously at trying to solve the problem. This means that we have to target kids in primary schools, and in secondary schools and try to give them back that passion, that love they need in order for them to participate."

He continued: "We see the success for Keshorn (Walcott), we the success for (Richard) Thompson, Njisane (Phillip), Jehue (Gordon) and we see Lalonde (Gordon) and we say everything is good. But everything is not good in paradise."

Romany said most people see sport as the finished product with the athletes on the medal podium, and are not interested in the values and background athletes possess to attain success.

He said of some 125,000 kids in primary schools in T&T, the TTOC estimated that less than 20 per cent of that figure are interested in participating in sport.

"If less than 20 per cent are interested in participating in sport, it means then that fewer than that actually participate, and therefore we have a problem," he said.

Romany said the public needed to encourage their children to love sport and to understand the role of sport in the lives of children.

"Most people see sport purely as recreation, purely as fitness and health, but we don't really understand that sport is absolutely necessary for us to understand who we  are,  for us to learn the most valuable value of social interaction and understanding, how we get along with one another," he said

Romany believed the TTOC is about celebrating kids and instilling the values of Olympism in children.

Romany said that the TTOC is collaborating with the Ministry of Education, and has started an initiative to measure the obesity of every child in primary schools. The data from the project, being conducted by John Hopkins University, will be analysed, and programmes will be put in.

The TTOC has also educated 150 young people in sport administration and certified them under an IOC programme, and has also targeted and interacted with over 3000 kids over the last year.

Romany, whose completes his second four-year term next year, said he expected to continue to contribute to an improved TTOC in the post of immediate past president.

—Mark Pouchet

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com