On Saturday 2 nd March 2024, the New Democratic Party (NDP) launched its National Athlete
\nProgram, designed to support local athletes to achieve their full potential.
\nThe launch took place at a Sports Day in West Kingstown. The program is designed to offer
\nathletes financial support on an ongoing basis. The NDP has contrasted this with the Unity
\nLabour Party (ULP) government\u2019s piecemeal approach to support athletes. This new approach
\nwill deliver for the whole country. The new programme will provide financial support for
\nathletes.<\/p>\n
The President of the NDP, Honourable Dr Godwin Friday, made the following comments: \u201cWe
\nare proud to launch our National Athlete Program. This program will create a national
\nprogramme, similar to the National Scholarship Program to support local athletes to reach their
\npotential. The ULP has continually neglected to develop our country\u2019s sporting talent. As recent
\nnews stories have shown, support to our athletes is unreliable and inadequate. One-off
\nsponsorship of particular athletes is simply not good enough and a new approach is required.
\nThis program will ensure that elite athletes, established and emerging have financial support to
\nreach their goals, with the knowledge that they are able to train, compete and have their best
\nchances to win. These hard-working sportsmen and sportswomen deserve our support to achieve
\ntheir goals brining joy to us all and glory for our country.<\/p>\n
The National Athlete Development Program is a part of our ongoing commitment to young
\npeople, and builds on the Youth Guarantee Pledge we made last year. The pledge affirms that by
\nthe end of our first term in office, every young person (under the age of 25) will have the
\nopportunity of a job or further training or internship to help lead to a job.<\/p>\n
Programs such as these will help unlock a brighter future for young Vincentians who for too long
\nhave been neglected by the ULP government. The ULP government ha promised and promised
\nthat something would be done, that some program would be put in place, but have failed to
\ndeliver.<\/p>\n
We acknowledge that in order to excel, athletes need to make sacrifice with limited resources to
\nbe able to represent our country and make the nation proud. As we have seen in recent news
\nreports, the present ad hoc approach has failed our sportsmen and sportswomen, proving that a
\nnew approach is needed to develop our country\u2019s sporting talent. The National Athlete Program
\nwill do just that. Other countries OECS countries are using these types of program to bring
\nsuccess to their country. Under the NDP, St Vincent and the Grenadines will do the same.
\nToo many young Vincentians are forced to move abroad in search for work because of a lack of
\nopportunities here in St Vincent and the Grenadines and those that do have work are under paid
\nfor the work they do. We believe that sports should play a key role in building our economy and
\ncan do so through opportunities for employment and also sports tourism.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By developing sporting talent, we can build interest in sports in our country, which can be used
\nto grow our sports tourism and wider tourism industry. From that, we will see an increase in
\ndemand for hotel accommodation, transportation services, food and beverage, entertainment,
\ntelevision and media coverage, advertising and health and medical services. This all forms part
\nof the new economy, one of the four pillars of economic growth, which will provide prosperity to
\nevery part of the country.<\/p>\n
Member of Parliament for East Kingstown, Honourable Dwight Fitz Bramble, as the Shadow
\nMinister for Sports will lead the party\u2019s efforts to develop this policy. Over the coming weeks,
\nthere will be a series of meetings with major sports organisations and other groups and people
\nwith interest. The party will develop the policy proposal in more detail and announce later in the
\nyear. The New Democratic Party is committed to ensuring all young people have the
\nopportunity to excel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Developing Sporting Facilities<\/p>\n
The NDP will also pay special attention to the development of sport facilities. We will
\nimplement a framework for upgrading and management of sports facilities at constituency and
\ncommunity level. An NDP government will implement a Service, Opportunity and Support
\nframework, which will ensure that sporting facilities are upgraded to accommodate their
\nrespective sporting disciplines. Community Sport Councils will be developed and sustained
\neagerly taking ownership of the maintenance of the established facilities and supporting the
\nprograms for physical activity and sport in their respective communities. We will also develop at
\nleast one playing field in each constituency to the extent that it can accommodate regionally
\norganized sports. These facilities will be fully lit and will have stands and changing facilities.
\nAnd, develop projects to convert the surfaces of playing fields into artificial surfaces, particularly
\nin areas where grass does not grow properly.<\/p>\n
Further, the sport of swimming should be at a much higher level at the competitive arena. As a
\nresult, the NDP will construct a National Aquatic Centre to attract national, regional and
\ninternational competitions and to grow the sport locally. Other areas of development that the
\nNDP will focus on include the construction of a national indoor sports complex, floored with
\nspecial sport flooring materials, to accommodate sports such as basketball, volleyball, netball,
\ntennis and squash.<\/p>\n
It is obvious that the failed policies of the ULP government has impeded the development of
\nsports in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Therefore, hindering emerging and established athletes
\nto reach their full potential. The NDP is committed to the development of sports in the country.
\nAnd, we will work assiduously to ensure that sport has a prominence on the development
\nagenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[257],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ndp-view"],"yoast_head":"\n