A lack of fitness among athletes reputed to be top in their respective disciplines is a major cause of concern for Anthony Creed, executive director of the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT) and president of the Secondary Schools Football League.In a T&T Guardian interview, Creed said an assessment of athletes three years ago, who were believed to be world class, showed they were in fact not ready for competition at that level.Creed lamented that since that time, not much had improved."In 2010, 35 national athletes were accessed, because one of the weakest areas in sport in our country is fitness; and I am talking physical fitness. I ain't even get a chance to chat about mental or psychological fitness. After testing 35 national athletes from eight sports and we compared the averages, two national athletes scored four. Five means you are ready for the Worlds (Games); you are ready for the Olympics. Four means you are almost ready and only two athletes scored four in 2010. And one of those two athletes went and did the work and has been winning medals in swimming," he said.
Creed said athletes needed to understand the purpose of science and the purpose of education, as well as the fact that they needed to be assessed before every season.The SporTT official said, "You need to assess yourself in the middle of the season. You need to access yourself at the end of the season. This is where we need to go. All those detractors talk a pack of crap on the news and not understanding how important the science is in sport. The area of science is one that is very efficient in the preparation of our sport. You need to know what is your resting heart rate. You need to know what is your working heart rate. How many athletes in the sport of track and field knew their stride length or step taken over a ten-metre length? How many secondary school athletes really embrace what their physical education teachers impart in terms of the anatomy to help with their performance?"
Creed also tackled the business element of sports and said gone are the days when parents and coaches had to sell toolum and sugar cake to raise funds for a clubs or team.He said he time had come where clubs most developed business plans, proving to the business community that sport in T&T had come of age."You cannot go to corporate T&T unless you have a proper business plan. Otherwise, whatever little sheet you carry will end up in the waste paper basket. Corporate T&T needs to know that sporting organisations are about serious business. What you are marketing, how you plan to deal with equipment and how you plan to deal with training. All these things have to be in your business plan. Look around. Who are the corporate bodies that support track and field in this country? Look at Olympics! Look at Worlds (Championships) and see who are the ones we need to target here in this country," said Creed.