On Saturday 2 nd March 2024, the New Democratic Party (NDP) launched its National Athlete
Program, designed to support local athletes to achieve their full potential.
The launch took place at a Sports Day in West Kingstown. The program is designed to offer
athletes financial support on an ongoing basis. The NDP has contrasted this with the Unity
Labour Party (ULP) government’s piecemeal approach to support athletes. This new approach
will deliver for the whole country. The new programme will provide financial support for
athletes.
The President of the NDP, Honourable Dr Godwin Friday, made the following comments: “We
are proud to launch our National Athlete Program. This program will create a national
programme, similar to the National Scholarship Program to support local athletes to reach their
potential. The ULP has continually neglected to develop our country’s sporting talent. As recent
news stories have shown, support to our athletes is unreliable and inadequate. One-off
sponsorship of particular athletes is simply not good enough and a new approach is required.
This program will ensure that elite athletes, established and emerging have financial support to
reach their goals, with the knowledge that they are able to train, compete and have their best
chances to win. These hard-working sportsmen and sportswomen deserve our support to achieve
their goals brining joy to us all and glory for our country.
The National Athlete Development Program is a part of our ongoing commitment to young
people, and builds on the Youth Guarantee Pledge we made last year. The pledge affirms that by
the end of our first term in office, every young person (under the age of 25) will have the
opportunity of a job or further training or internship to help lead to a job.
Programs such as these will help unlock a brighter future for young Vincentians who for too long
have been neglected by the ULP government. The ULP government ha promised and promised
that something would be done, that some program would be put in place, but have failed to
deliver.
We acknowledge that in order to excel, athletes need to make sacrifice with limited resources to
be able to represent our country and make the nation proud. As we have seen in recent news
reports, the present ad hoc approach has failed our sportsmen and sportswomen, proving that a
new approach is needed to develop our country’s sporting talent. The National Athlete Program
will do just that. Other countries OECS countries are using these types of program to bring
success to their country. Under the NDP, St Vincent and the Grenadines will do the same.
Too many young Vincentians are forced to move abroad in search for work because of a lack of
opportunities here in St Vincent and the Grenadines and those that do have work are under paid
for the work they do. We believe that sports should play a key role in building our economy and
can do so through opportunities for employment and also sports tourism.
By developing sporting talent, we can build interest in sports in our country, which can be used
to grow our sports tourism and wider tourism industry. From that, we will see an increase in
demand for hotel accommodation, transportation services, food and beverage, entertainment,
television and media coverage, advertising and health and medical services. This all forms part
of the new economy, one of the four pillars of economic growth, which will provide prosperity to
every part of the country.
Member of Parliament for East Kingstown, Honourable Dwight Fitz Bramble, as the Shadow
Minister for Sports will lead the party’s efforts to develop this policy. Over the coming weeks,
there will be a series of meetings with major sports organisations and other groups and people
with interest. The party will develop the policy proposal in more detail and announce later in the
year. The New Democratic Party is committed to ensuring all young people have the
opportunity to excel.”
Developing Sporting Facilities
The NDP will also pay special attention to the development of sport facilities. We will
implement a framework for upgrading and management of sports facilities at constituency and
community level. An NDP government will implement a Service, Opportunity and Support
framework, which will ensure that sporting facilities are upgraded to accommodate their
respective sporting disciplines. Community Sport Councils will be developed and sustained
eagerly taking ownership of the maintenance of the established facilities and supporting the
programs for physical activity and sport in their respective communities. We will also develop at
least one playing field in each constituency to the extent that it can accommodate regionally
organized sports. These facilities will be fully lit and will have stands and changing facilities.
And, develop projects to convert the surfaces of playing fields into artificial surfaces, particularly
in areas where grass does not grow properly.
Further, the sport of swimming should be at a much higher level at the competitive arena. As a
result, the NDP will construct a National Aquatic Centre to attract national, regional and
international competitions and to grow the sport locally. Other areas of development that the
NDP will focus on include the construction of a national indoor sports complex, floored with
special sport flooring materials, to accommodate sports such as basketball, volleyball, netball,
tennis and squash.
It is obvious that the failed policies of the ULP government has impeded the development of
sports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Therefore, hindering emerging and established athletes
to reach their full potential. The NDP is committed to the development of sports in the country.
And, we will work assiduously to ensure that sport has a prominence on the development
agenda.