President: Keith Joseph
Secretary: Alexandra Walrond
Treasurer: Jacintha Ballantyne
P.O. Box 1644, Kingstown
St. Vincent, West Indies
Tel: 784 457 2970 ● Fax: 485 6412
Email: [email protected]
Dear Friends
As we begin the month of April we strive to engender confidence and hope in all of our athletes that we are hopeful for the passing of the COVID-19 pandemic and that they would all be spared its ravages.
These are very challenging times. But the sport of athletics has never given way to adversity. This fact is brought to the fore by World Athletics, our international governing body, which is using its website (www.worldathletics.org) to highlight numerous stories of athletes who overcame adversity through their participation in our sport. These are fine examples for all of us to emulate.
On Monday 6 April, Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines will join the rest of the world in observing the 6th edition of the observance of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP 2020), acknowledging that sport has a tremendous capacity to wage the kind of struggle the world needs to combat the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic.
WE support the United Nations in its claim,
“Sport has the power to change the world; it is a fundamental right, a powerful tool to strengthen social ties and promote sustainable development and peace and well as solidarity, and respect. Through our unique individual skills and collective power, we can come together and share creative ways to improve our health and well-being through sport and physical activity – even from the confines of our own homes….we are asking everyone to be active, stay healthy and demonstrate solidarity during this period of physical and social distancing. This team spirit will help us all get through the current challenges together”.
Vincentians have always shown themselves to be resilient in the face of adversity. Our athletes, coaches, technical officials and administrators are enjoined in the struggle to not merely survive but to live healthy lives. We encourage our athletes to keep fit. Continue to exercise, to train.
World Athletics has announced the All International Federations (IF) agreed to the new dates of the Tokyo Olympics for 2021. World Indoors that had been moved from 2020 will still be in Nanjing, China, in March 2021. World Outdoors will move to 2022 instead of 2021. World Juniors 2020 has been cancelled.
World Athletics and NACAC are still hopeful that some of the season can be salvaged. 8 – 9 August 2020 has been set as tentative dates for National Championships around the world. We are hopeful that Carifta can still take place either in July or August 2020, in Bermuda. Everything hinges on the world successfully beating back COVID-19.
As we prepare for the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace we urge all our stakeholders to adhere to the established protocols aimed at enhancing our capacity to defeat COVID-19.
Keith Joseph
President
TASVG
2 April 2020
