NEWS - Results from #1878

Ten players in world’s top 100 for T&T tourney

AROUND ten players ranked in the top 100 in the world have entered the inaugural Trinidad and Tobago International Badminton Tournament next month.

Players from 22 countries, including Austria, Belgium, Cuba, Czech Republic, Israel, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Turkey, United States and T&T will be doing battle from May 20-25 at Easter Regional Sports Arena, Tacarigua.

The tournament is sanctioned by the world’s governing body, Badminton World Federation and the players will be battling for US$5,000, sponsored by the Pan American Badminton Confederation.

Canadian Nickolas Bonkowsky, whose mother hails from Trinidad, and five-time national champion Anil Seepaul will be among those flying the red, white and black flag.

Bonkowsky defeated Seepaul in the final of the National Championships last month.

The women’s field is expected to include Solangel Guzman, who has been residing here for over four years and missed “Nationals” after capturing triple crowns in the three previous editions.

The Cuban struck gold for her country of birth in the 2006 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and for T&T last year in the Caribbean Championships.

The Mexican who won the women’s singles and doubles titles in last year’s CAC Games at home and the Cuban who struck gold in men’s singles in the Pan Am Games in Canada last year are also expected to be in the star-studded field.

The only previous international badminton tournament ever staged in this country took place over a decade ago at Jean Pierre Complex, Wrightson Road, Woodbrook.

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How do we get out of this deep hole?

All successful teachers of less than average students begin with a belief that the children can learn. Successful cricket coaches also believe that all players if properly taught can learn.

Teachers, coaches and cricket boards say they believe this and preach it, but when their students and players fail to reach expected standards they blame the students and label them as poor students or poor learners and hardly ever consider the possibility that they might be bad teachers. During the last two decades, West Indies cricket has been in a steady decline, a deterioration that multiple coaches, boards and board presidents have failed to arrest or reverse. Are our players the only poor learners?

Research has shown that teachers’ expectations of students have a dramatic effect not just on their grades but also on their IQ. It has also shown that if a manager’s expectations are high productivity is likely to be high, but if expectations are low productivity is likely to be low.

We are now preoccupied with management arrangements and reform of our boards. Though necessary, do they contain the answers to why our players are not learning to play better? During the successful Clive Lloyd era, the captain and the management team expected their players to learn and improve. And they repeatedly communicated that expectation to them, continually boosted their self-image and self-belief and gave them the necessary time and support to achieve those expectations.

It is amazing what can happen when teachers and coaches really do believe – and make their students/players believe – that they can learn what they put their minds to learning. But are they telling the students what they should put their minds to learning? Students who are taught Spanish should not be expected to master French. Are our coaches and boards teaching their players the right priorities, values and standards and are they doing so in the best learning environment?

In sport, statistics and records only show what players have learned and done not what they can learn and do. The importance of the learning environment cannot be overstated. I am told that goldfish will grow larger or stay smaller according to the size of the fish tank. If the tank is large the fish will get bigger but if the tank is small the fish will stay small.

So too, players will grow larger or stay smaller according to the type of environment (physical, emotional, mental, strategic and leadership) the boards and coaches create for them. By expanding and improving the quality of the players’ environment and teaching them self-reliance and self-leadership, the boards and coaches will help them to grow and become better players and better people. But before this can happen, the boards and coaches should start with themselves and set the right example by expanding and improving the quality of their own environment and self-leadership.

Our boards and coaches believe, and try to convince us, that they are doing the right things. But do we believe them? It depends on whether you listen to what they say or watch what they do. They will tell you with the straightest faces that they believe that all players are valuable and can learn to do the right things and play better. But watch the boards and coaches and see what they do. They profess a faith that they refuse to practise. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone associated with West Indies cricket would pledge for the next three years to act as if they really do believe all their players can learn? It might mark the beginning of our cricket revival.

When patients go into hospital they often leave their commonsense on the hospital steps in the same way that West Indies’ players left their commonsense in the pavilion on the last day of the Grenada Test.

Of the mind and commonsense, Sir Garfield Sobers once told me, “The proper use of the mind is the one thing that separates champions from the merely good players. No matter how good a player you are, you won’t make it to the top unless you develop your mind. The top players know how to think, how to concentrate and what to do in tough situations.”

As I have mentioned many times before, Sir Garfield also stressed: “If I had a free hand in coaching I would initially spend most of my time teaching the basics of the game. I would then spend an equal amount of time teaching the players how to identify and deal with the many different situations they will face during the game. I feel that this combination gives the player the best preparation and the best chance to do well.”

West Indies players don’t choose or execute the basics consistently well and often misread the situations and challenges that they face.

To Sir Garfield’s combination I would add the improvement of self-belief, self-discipline and self-motivation and the enhancement of the players’ capacity to handle the pressures of the day; the ability to gauge when pressure is being applied to them and when and how it must be applied to others.

At the highest levels of sport, performance revolves around mastery of the basics and the power of expectation, self-belief, self-motivation and self-discipline. The depth of your motivation and discipline determines the level of your success. Experts now claim that the correlation between self-discipline and success is greater than the correlation between ability and success.

If these things are true, are we teaching our players the right things? Perhaps the players are not all bad learners; the boards and coaches might be bad teachers.

Dr Rudi Webster is a former West Indies cricket manager and performance enhancer.

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Lewis: Constitutional Reform needed

TRINIDAD AND Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Brian Lewis emphasised that constitutional reform to reflect good governance principles, like one member one vote, would assist a long way in bringing sport in this country to a commercially viable sport industry.

Lewis said while the potential is huge, “a critical success factor is strong sport governance systems and procedures.”

He stated, “many of the existing Constitutions under which national sport organisations and national governing bodies operate need to be modernised and amended to include basic universal principles of good governance.”

Lewis added the Ministry of Sport, Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago and the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee( TTOC) must cooperate and work together to foster, facilitate and enable the necessary changes and reform.

“We can’t sweep the issue of poor sports governance under the carpet. It’s not about making cosmetic changes. There is need for reform.

“Some sports are operating in an undemocratic manner and aren’t conducting their affairs in a transparent and accountable manner.”

Lewis reminded that at their 67th AGM last April, the TTOC ushered in constitutional changes when they successfully moved a motion to stop outgoing executive members from having an automatic right to vote.

That motion received the unanimous support of the national sport organisations and the TTOC executive committee members in attendance back then.

To be eligible to vote at the TTOC AGM, starting from the 2017 term, outgoing elected executive committee members must now be a duly accredited delegate representing a financial and voting member affiliate.

“The change removing the automatic right to vote is a significant one with respect to sport governance and the notion of free and fair election of sport leaders,” said Lewis.

The TTOC boss said. “the ultimate victims of bad governance and badly structured sport bodies are the athletes, children, youth and young people and the best interest and sustainable development of sport.

“Constitutional reform is a priority in Trinidad and Tobago sport,” he concluded.

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport is launching in Abu Dhabi

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is the world’s leading sports law forum and was established on 30 June 1984.

Having its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, CAS is regarded as the only tribunal that can hear disputes over the interpretation of the Olympic Charter; it is the sole tribunal of appeal from decisions of the world Anti-Doping Agency and the final tribunal of appeal for many major international sports federations.

This position at the top of the sporting-legal world and the general acceptance of its decisions has required CAS to ensure that its reasoning is grounded in appropriate legal basis. In looking not only to the form and substance of the sporting rules before it but also by drawing on what are generally considered to be universally accepted legal principles when forming its opinions and advices, CAS jurisprudence is creating what is becoming known as a transnational, universally applicable sports law.

CAS is independent of any sports organisations and is considered the highest international dispute resolution forum for legal cases relating to sports, including commercial disputes (e.g. issues arising from sponsorship agreements or player contracts) and discipline (e.g. doping, non-compliance with codes of conduct). It also acts as an appeals court for decisions made by sporting organisations’ own arbitration systems or dispute resolution mechanisms, including global associations with disciplinary arms such as FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

In May 2012, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, became one of only four cities in the world to host a permanent CAS court, the other cities being Lausanne, Sydney and New York.

CAS Abu Dhabi is a joint venture between the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) and the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department. This joint venture agreement was signed as per the directives of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and the Minister of Presidential Affairs.

According to the agreement, the CAS Abu Dhabi Centre will hold arbitration hearings, organise meetings, seminars and other activities related to the development and promotion of sport’s legal aspects in the region. The Abu Dhabi office of sport's highest court will also handle local, regional and international sports-related disputes and provide the required facilities to conduct video calls with experts and witnesses from around the world. The facilities include onsite meeting rooms, communications and internet infrastructure, audio and videoconferencing systems and technical equipment as well as all human resources required to operate the centre.

The launch of a CAS facility in Abu Dhabi will provide the opportunity for specialised adjudication of sports related disputes, something that is becoming more common in the Gulf with the rapid rise of participation in sports and the hosting of major sporting events. In such cases, conducting hearings (live or via the centre’s technology) in the UAE rather than in Switzerland, can potentially save significant costs and shorten periods for resolution.

The first case brought before CAS Abu Dhabi for resolution is currently waiting for a decision. The case involved the appeal of an Indian swimmer, Amar Muralidharan, against a doping ban. The swimmer based his appeal against the decision of the Indian national anti-steroids committee in New Delhi, which convicted him of using banned substances and issued a suspension from competition for two years. The CAS assigned seasoned independent arbitrator, Michele Bernasconi, from Switzerland, to hear the case as a sole arbitrator. Muralidharan, his two lawyers and his father attended the first hearing. At the time of printing this article, a follow up with the Abu Dhabi CAS centre indicates that the case is still under scrutiny and a determination of the appeal is imminent.

In a previous case with some similarities heard by CAS: United States Olympic Committee v International Olympic Committee CAS 2011/0/2422, CAS referred to the generally-applicable principles of sports law, in a review of its own jurisprudence declaring what was at that time Rule 45 of the Olympic Charter unlawful. Rule 45 had been introduced to impose a greater sanction on athletes found guilty of a doping offence and suspended from competition for six months or longer; in such a case, the athlete would be banned additionally from competing in the summer and winter Olympic Games immediately following the completion of their suspension. CAS held Rule 45 to be unlawful primarily on the grounds that by introducing an additional punishment unilaterally that was not sanctioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, the International Olympic Committee had not followed its own rules and procedures. In other words, it had acted ultra vires, or beyond its powers.

The introduction of fundamental generally applicable or universally accepted principles of law into the jurisprudence of CAS provides it with an opportunity to set minimum standards of procedural fairness and governance that are applicable across all sports to compliment its ability to cater to the specificity of sport. Furthermore, it provides CAS’s decisions with an underpinning legalism that mature legal systems consider integral to continued and reliable operations.

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Adidas and TTOC hold Rio 2016 meeting at Olympic House

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) and Adidas will discuss the Rio 2016 Olympics over the next two days at Olympic House in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Adidas and the national Olympic committee have a long standing partnership.

The German sportswear multinational is the TTOC podium and sportswear partner.

Adidas representatives will present to TTOC officials T&T's Rio 2016 Olympic podium and sportswear designs for the TTOC 's approval.

Bledman leads the world

Baptiste sizzles in comeback century

Keston Bledman bolted to the top of the 2015 world performance list when he scorched the track in 10.01 seconds for a convincing victory in the Tom Jones Memorial men’s 100 metres dash, in Florida, USA, on Friday.

The Trinidad and Tobago track star finished well ahead of his closest challenger, American Marvin Bracy securing second spot in 10.11.

Two Saturdays ago, also in Florida, Bledman ran his first 100m race for the season, clocking a wind-assisted 9.97 seconds. He returned to the track later in the day for victory in the final in a windy 9.94.

On Friday, the wind cooperated with Bledman, and he produced the sixth fastest legal time of his career.

Another T&T sprinter, Richard “Torpedo” Thompson is third on the 2015 world performance list at 10.04, behind Bledman (10.01) and American Trayvon Bromell (10.02).

Kelly-Ann Baptiste dived under 11 seconds in her first 100m outing since the completion of a 21-month doping ban, in January.

Baptiste won the Tom Jones Memorial women’s century in 10.98 seconds, the clocking earning her fourth spot on the 2015 world performance list. Jamaican Elaine Thompson and American Jenna Prandini are joint-first at 10.92, while third spot is occupied by another T&T sprinter, Michelle-Lee Ahye, who clocked 10.97 seconds on April 2.

At the Penn Relays, in Pennsylvania, St Augustine Secondary student Portious Warren seized silver in the high school girls’ shot put championship. The 2015 Carifta Games under-20 champion threw the iron ball 14.69 metres.

Coppin State University’s Deandra Daniel finished sixth in the college women’s high jump with a 1.74m clearance. Steve Waithe was eighth in the college men’s triple jump, the Pennsylvania State University student disturbing the sand at 15.41m.

Andre Marcano clocked 10.95 seconds for ninth spot in the Olympic Development men’s 100m dash. Toco Secondary’s Terrel Paul was 15th in the high school boys’ triple jump with a 13.54m effort.

St Benedict’s College student, Iley Bruce was 22nd in the high school boys’ 3,000m in nine minutes, 36.71 seconds. And Temple University’s Kiersten LaRoche produced a wind-aided 5.07m jump to finish 48th in the college women’s long jump.

Bishop’s High School, Tobago students, Ako Hislop, Akanni Hislop, Aaron Lewis and Dwight St Hillaire teamed up for eighth spot in the high school boys’ 4x100m small schools event in 42.48 seconds.

Queen’s Royal College emerged as the best of the T&T schools in the high school boys’ 4x400m event, Jesse Frederick, Keivonne Alexander, Elijah Smith and Jacob St Clair teaming up for fourth spot in their section in 3:21.96.

St Francois Girls College was the most impressive of the T&T schools in the high school girls’ 4x100m event. Jeneil Morris, Kadesha Prescott, Jeminise Parris and Thyla-Marie Scott teamed up for 24th spot overall in the large schools category in 49.80 seconds.

In the high school girls’ 4x400m, the Bishop Anstey High School combination of Kafi Ottley, Deleth Charles, Je’Risa James and Jeunice Maxime returned a time of 4:04.11 to finish fourth in their section.

Deon Lendore anchored his university, Texas A&M to silver in the college men’s 4x400m championship of America in 3:04.99. He also anchored Texas A&M to silver in the college men’s 4x100m championship of America in 39.56 seconds.

In the masters men’s 65 and older 100m dash, Terrance Skinner finished third in 13.87 seconds. And in the masters men’s 55 and older 100m, Wayne Marcano was fifth in 13.10.

University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) finished 26th in the college men’s 4x200m in 1:29.65, 33rd in the college men’s sprint medley (3:41.15), 37th in the college women’s 4x200m (1:43.66), and 49th in the college men’s 4x400m (3:25.50).

At the Drake Relays, in Iowa, Arizona State University junior Jamol James finished 10th in the men’s long jump with a 7.25m leap. And Baylor University senior, Dannielle Davis was 22nd overall in the women’s 100m hurdles in 14.61 seconds.

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