Sports Minister Anil Roberts has called on the Caribbean community to band together in an effort to protect regional athletes whose championship performances on the world stage have now put them in danger from those around the world opposed to their success.He sounded the warning while speaking before an international audience at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, Dock Road, Port-of-Spain, at Wednesday's launch of the Conference on Science, Higher Education and Business: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Sport Studies, Research and Development, hosted by the University of the West Indies and the First Citizens Sports Foundation."All of us in the Caribbean must protect our Caribbean region as it's under attack. We have not realised that we have become under attack," Roberts said."We have come under attack since Usian Bolt came to the fore and ran right here at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. Few knew gold medals was coming, but his dominance and the Bahamas; and T&T with Richard Thompson, now Jehue Gordon, the track and field 4x100�metre and 4x400-metre (teams)."Total dominance of the Caribbean! People doh like that! The big money people doh like that!"
While he did not define the form of this attack, he did state that major global sponsors of sport events, particularly those in which regional athletes compete and win were not pleased by the sportsmen and sportswoman accepting top honours.A win by Caribbean athletes, said the minister, did not move their retail products in the desired volumes for greater earnings.
The problems have worsened, said Roberts, but the fact that some islands were perpetrating this uncomfortable dynamic to hurt another, not realising they were in fact attacking growth and sustainability of Caribbean sports."If they attack Jamaica, we might benefit so stay quiet, and if they attack Bahamas, we might benefit so keep quiet; and when they came for T&T we couldn't keep quiet. So we have to understand what is going," he said.The minister went on t0 laud the initiative of this conference mounted by UWI and the First Sports Foundation as extolling the virtues related to the interdisciplinary concept in sports.
He told the gathering that if someone wanted to be a sport psychologist, they must understand the science of coaching, the macro-science of training, how the energy system operates and what athletes have to eat and how they slept.But focusing on their mental well-being was not all he said."They must understand how to interact with the media, how to deal with 'starithis' as they move up the ladder, how they deal with success; how they interact with their family," said Roberts."You have to understand what their parents (are) going through, their religious beliefs. I have coached many children some whom were Seventh Day Adventist and imagine having a Caribbean Championships final on a Saturday."Can't swim, but you have to understand their way and you must respect all and understand each aspect. You must understand the legal nuances in sport. You must understand Caribbean, political and geo-political nature of sport," Robert said.