For the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the Trinidad and Tobago Commonwealth Games Association (TTCGA) taking a stand for athletes, youth and young people is a daily struggle. Each and everyday people manifest issues by their behaviours that create difficulties and problems for athletes, youth and young people.
Standing for something. Our athletes, youth and young people are worth serving, their needs and wants and dreams. Standing for something.
Faced with a multitude of simply selfish actions by sports administrators many of the Twin Island Republic's youth and young people are making an obvious choice which shows that the organisation cares.
Some sports administrators are quite happy proving that they are more clever than everyone else. It's not about fair or doing the right thing. No! It's about a silly pantomime of "stare down" and "I got you."
It doesn't matter if youth and young people suffer as a result once "you win".
Shouldn't we seek to serve, solve problems and make positive changes? The opportunity is for each of us to choose a path and follow that, not for your own benefit but because of what it can produce for others.
For sure there are a lot of adults doing a fantastic job teaching our youth and young people that riding roughly shod over others and being a bold face and shameless and having the ability to tell a big lie and keep telling it is the pathway to success.
It's sad because when we should be raising the expectations, contributing to their hopes and dreams and helping our athletes see further, some of us are focused on fighting down and beating down our youth and young people so that we can show them who is in charge, who the boss is, and who is in command.
Instead of making our youth and young people feel good and confident and more likely to contribute and feel empowered. The goal is to prove a point and assert power and authority.
An objective analysis of the facts will show that the best interest of, sport and young people aren't the priority, but a game of petty minds playing silly games with athletes futures.
Wouldn't it make a positive difference if we all dug deeper and be guided by a true and more sincere instinct?
There is a better alternative when administrators provide service of a positive change that makes a positive impact on our athletes.
What our youth and young people want is to be understood and to be served. Sports leaders and sports administrators are here to serve. What our youth and young people want from those of us elected to serve is emotional labour and display the passion that goes with it. Emotional labour is the work we do to provide service.
The heart and soul of a national sports organisation is service to making positive change happen.
Sports leaders, sports administrators and national sports organisations need to focus on the path of connection, empathy, and change in the service of our youth and young people.
Editor's Note: Brian Lewis is the President of the T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the organisation.