Season Setback

The start of our new track and field season in St Vincent and the Grenadines has been set back by the sudden, unexpected spread of the coronavirus all across the multi-island nation.

After having conducted a very successful Off-Season Relays on 12 December 2020, TASVG  has found itself having to shelve its plans for the first part of 2021 because of the changed health protocols impacting all Vincentians. Since 28 December, our country has experienced more than 800 new cases, many of them locals with no history of recent  travel.

While others at the administrative level can afford to quibble over whether we have clusters or community spread, TASVG can ill-afford such luxury. Discussions with the Manager (Ag) of the National Sports Council (NSC), Mr Lance John, led to his insistence that the organisation would require a letter from NEMO indicating that we have been cleared to conduct our Development Meets as scheduled. Unfortunately, our letter to NEMO was not met with a response. This means that TASVG does not have permission to conduct its outdoor activities as planned.

We are nonetheless hopeful that with increased adherence to the health protocols by the Vincentian population and the anticipated availability of vaccines, we can have a return to a reduction in the number of  new cases and the recommencement of competition.

We are aware that many of our coaches are conducting training sessions with limited number of athletes. This is commendable and we continue to urge them to adhere to the protocols.

We are confident that with God’s Grace, we will overcome this pandemic. We are also expecting that there will not be a return to normalcy in societies around the world. Instead, we will witness the emergence of a new approach to how we conduct ourselves in all aspects of our lives.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The pandemic created the need for us to be more attentive to our lifestyles. Going forward we will expect this to be sustained and our lives and societies will be the better for it.