Last week I watched part of the memorial service for the famous American football coach Joe Paterno, whose career coaching record in terms of wins, State and College Championships, Awards, Trophies and the rest is outstanding by any measure. One of the players he coached in the 70's delivered the eulogy and highlighted two points of interest:
(a) Paterno's legacy is not his coaching achievements great as they were but as a coach who cared about the welfare of his players outside the realm of football. He monitored their education progress on a regular basis; he made sure they went to Church on Sundays; he encouraged them to "do unto others" and he kept in touch with their families. He managed his players "through their mothers" constantly letting the mothers know how their sons were getting on with their life skills.
(b) Coach Paterno was well known to his players for two of his favourite motivational sayings, namely: "Will today be better than yesterday or worse, because it won't be the same?" In other words, wake up this morning with the positive intent to make today better than yesterday. Secondly, "Hustle! Something good will happen!" Always be on the move, stay positive, look for an opportunity to improve, find a new friend, take a small risk, the future has much to offer if you look for it, and so on. Wouldn't it be nation-changing if all our coaches, including political leaders - did their best to implement the philosophies of Joe Paterno? Don't just think about it – take a risk, dare to be different and put it into effect! Be a hero to the youngsters and they will never forget you.
Making a difference
We have often heard that, "It takes a village to raise a child". On Saturday January 28, I had the great pleasure to witness an example of "how a child can make a difference to his village". I was invited to Waterloo Secondary School to present football equipment, on behalf of Neal and Massy Foundation to the Waterloo Institute of Soccer for winning the Community Project of 2011 Award at the recent Spirit of Sports awards function. Before the show, I happened by chance to meet for the first time the three representatives of the Waterloo soccer programme, one of whom was 13 year old Gary, captain of the Under 14 age group.
Imagine my surprise when the winner was announced and even more so when young Gary went on stage to receive the plaque and then publicly thanked God, the coaches, parents, team mates and the Ministry for the well deserved recognition.
Next morning I phoned Gary, reminded him of our meeting and told him how proud I was of him when he faced the huge audience with such calm and confidence as he spoke in public for the first time. He explained how the Waterloo soccer programme worked, mentioned their ongoing need for footballs, boots, uniforms and the rest, advising that Waterloo was a low income rural community and it was tough for many parents to equip their kids. When Gary politely asked if I could help in a small way, I suggested the Soccer Institute President write Neal and Massy Foundation for assistance, which he did and the rest is history.
It is impossible to understand how God works in such extraordinary ways to make good things happen, and seeing so many youngsters receive their shin guards, uniforms, boots, footballs, goal nets and training cones will always be a treasured memory.
Thank you Neal and Massy Foundation, thank you Waterloo community, the often unpaid coaches and a special thank you to Gary for initiating such a nice gift for his football friends, simply by being such an impressive young man, mature beyond his years. Once again I plead with "whomever" to ensure that rural communities like Waterloo receive even minimum funding to promote sport among the boys and girls.
Hard working, low income people can make a dollar stretch for miles.
Congrats Brian
Congrats to jockey Brian Boodramsingh for riding four winners, for the first time last Saturday. Obviously it helps to be first call to John O'Brien's leading stable, but Brian's riding keeps improving and it was a pleasure to see him hand-riding Lawbreaker to victory in the final 200m of the last race, staying well balanced and unflustered, while other jockeys around him were using their whips to no avail. Well done Brian!
When age catches up
We all like to feel younger than we are but age does catch up and it seems that India's brilliant trio of batsmen, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman have to face the age factor sooner rather than later to keep their wonderful reputations intact. The cracks in their collective wall are definitely showing and the same applies to a lesser extent to India's other outstanding Test players, Sehwag, Gambhir, Dhoni and Zaheer Khan.
Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and R, Ashwin are poised to take over. It was interesting to note the party of 14 selected by Australia to face India in two T-20s which included several new names and a new captain on debut, too bold a move in my opinion. The series ended 1-1.
Unimaginable fitness
I hope that many were fortunate to watch the Djokovic – Nadal tennis final in the Australian Open and admire the unimaginable fitness of both players, as they fought tooth and nail over five grueling sets lasting just under six hours. One of the most amazing statistics in modern sport is that Djokovic has beaten Nadal in seven successive finals. Given Nadal's amazing career record to the end of 2010, who would have thought it possible that he would lose seven times in a row to the same player including three successive Grand Slams? One has to feel sorry for all male tennis players outside the top four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray as the gap between No 4 and the rest seems to widen by the week. It must be very demoralising to enter a Grand Slam, knowing in advance that your chance of reaching the final is between none and nil.
After reading Andre Baptiste's article (Guardian February 01) about the plight of Prince Bartholomew and Cecil Greene, may I respectfully suggest that as further evidence that we are a caring society, Government sets up a fund of $500,000 per year for ex-national sports people who fall on hard times for genuine health reasons, rather than "through your own fault" causes. Monthly cash allocations should be basic ($6000) rather than extravagant and carefully considered, administered and monitored since the betting is good that once such a fund is established, all sorts of so-called past national players will suddenly become very ill. Please excuse my cynicism but Trini creativity is one of our major claims to fame with great export potential!
Calling corporate Waterloo
May I end by asking ten generous companies, stores or individuals which/who operate in the Freeport/Waterloo area, to donate $100 a month to the Soccer programme mentioned above, so the five coaches can be given a small stipend for the many hours they give each week (Monday, Wednesday and Saturday), for the benefit of the 180 boys and girls in six different age groups. This would allow each coach to get a stipend of $200 a month, which is really "peanuts" for the work they do but is more than they sometimes get month after month. To many, $100 may seem a drop in the bucket, but as Mother Teresa said "a bucket can only be filled with many drops." Fifty years ago when driving my mother to Mayaro through Princes Town, we saw a teenaged boy standing in the middle of nowhere and she asked me to give him a ride which I did.
After, when I enquired what made her make such a request, she gave a reply which I have never forgotten, "If that was my child I would hope and pray that someone would be kind enough to help him." She was talking to "her child". Please listen to my mom and imagine that any of those 180 children was yours and he/she needs to keep the coaches to provide direction, support, encouragement and hope. Offer the $100 per month and your generosity will make you feel like a millionaire. Thank you and God bless.