The Children’s Big Day Is Here
‘The children are our future’
Over the years we have heard it said that the children in any society constitute the future. Theya re the ones who would inherit what we have done with the societies into which we have brought them. What they do with the society in their time, will, likewise, be left for their successive generations. That is how life is.
On ecan only hope therefore, that we work diligently in our own lifetime to shape our society in a manner that would leave our children, our successors, to enjoy a life that is distinctly better than the one we met and the one we are leaving in their hands.
Theer is little doubt that today’s children are already experiencing a rapidly changing society dominated by fast-paced technological changes that while capable of improving life as we know it, also constitutes its biggest threat.
Children and Sport
In today’s society we are witnessing the development of sport into a most powerful and financially lucrative industry. Whereas in the past, sport was the purview of a select few, today it is, for the most part, more accessible than it has ever been in history. Unfortunately, the growth of the global industry has proven to be its own contradiction as we witness the perpetration of racism, hatred and bigotry alongside the fame and glory so often touted by the international media.
Children who access sport, quickly become aware of the contradictions that exist and choose how they deal with these as they mature in life and struggle to manage their experiences.
Parents are today expected to guide their children along life’s journey but find themselves competing, more than ever before, with the often contradictory messages spawned by the incessant growth and impact of the attention economy.
But even as the sport industry continues to appeal to children via the ever-increasing, though contradictory media messaging, the reality of mankind’s continued thirst for power and influence through wealth, leaves them exposed to a viciously impactful value system that threatens their own contributions to the societies in which they live and hope to leave to their own children.
Physical activity and sport have always been promoted as beneficial for the individual. We promote the positive values attendant to sport, often ignoring to discuss the plethora of negatives that are almost always ever present.
We speak of discipline, friendship, camaraderie, caring and sharing. Indeed, if we carefully introduce children to sport, we can help to create a better world. That was what Nelson Mandela saw in sport as he watched the post-apartheid South African rugby team rise above the vestiges of the nation’s cruel past to embrace and be motivated by Mandela’s appeal for truth to be the most effective pathway to national reconciliation. That the team won the prestigious world cup was testimony to the immense potential of sport to heal a nation.
Perhaps we are not taking the South African team’s message and Mandela’s glowing image of a brighter, better, more all-embracing social existence amongst peoples seriously enough. Perhaps it is that we do not have enough confidence in ourselves as human beings living on planet earth.
Some of us choose Mandela’s vision as the exemplary course to follow. If we stick to this, we are more likely to have children around us who are imbued with optimism about successive generations and their future.
Sport has much to give to the development of our children. Societies everywhere can be wholesome environments for children of the future. The process has to begin now.
Kids Athletics Saturday
Tomorrow, Saturday 10 May, 500 children from across St Vincent and the Grenadine swill gather at the sport facility at Diamond, to celebrate their own support for sport to have a critical role in their lives through the Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines observation of World Athletics Day.
The nation’s most successful sport, athletics, will, tomorrow, afford our children the opportunity to share their own enjoyment of and engagement in the FUNdamentals of the sport of athletics – running, jumping and throwing.
The parents, physical education teachers, coaches and friends are all invited to join them, encourage and show support for their engagement in sporting activities that are part of the process of making them whole persons.
Under the leadership of National Kids Athletics Coordinator, Kelisha Yorke, with the support of her cohort of coaches and encouragement of NACAC Kids Athletics Master Instructor, Chester Morgan, the nation’s children will go through their paces from 10.00am through to 1.00pm. They will all be dressed in their World Athletics Day t-shirts, a keepsake that would forever remind them of their particular journey in the global movement that encourages them to be part of the world’s leading sport for individuals.
Last year, in the month of August, TASVH played host to a regional training course for coaches involved in the conduct of Kids Athletics in their respective countries. The course was conducted by Chester Morgan with support from Kelisha Yorke.
St Vincent and the. Grenadines is one of the leading countries in the active development of Kids Athletics across North and Central America and the Caribbean. The level of interest continues to grow exponentially, requiring more resources and coaching personnel.
For the past several months, the Kids Athletics team has been working with children in schools and communities, instilling positive values as they impart the skills of the sport in the hope that they will stay with them throughout their lives.
All involved in the Kids Athletics programme have been encouraged and supported by Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines. The latter remains ever thankful for the support of the St Vincent and the Grenadines’ National Olympic Committee and the several sponsors that have so readily understood the importance of the programme to the future of our nation through their involvement in sport.
Join the Kids Athletics Movement
TASVG has not only engaged itself in actively training children through Kids Athletics. The organisation is busy developing the Kids Athletics Movement across the. nation, as the necessary foundation for the continued growth and development of the sport.
The more children get involved the more they are likely to love sport and stay with it as an option.
It should be noted that Kids Athletics can easily serve as a foundational option for children for almost any sport, given that most incorporate running, jumping and throwing.
Tomorrow should be an opportunity for our lovers of sport to join the children in getting involved in sport.
Take some time to go out to the sport facility at Diamond and encourage our children.
