An organization named DA Sports Vybez (Dominica Sports Vybez) based in Dominica, the Caribbean region, under the patronage of Women National Football team coach Albert Wang Titre is working towards promoting and encouraging sports and physical activities in the nation among the young and emerging players of the country.

In a recent post on the official social media handle of DA Sports Vybez, the officials from the organization stressed the concerned topic of the current position of sports in Dominica. They took the initiative of starting a positive conversation or discussion about the sporting culture in Dominica.

In the post uploaded by the organization, officials pointed out challenges and difficulties that the upcoming sportsman face in their daily life as an athlete, along with the steps towards the betterment of the facilities and opportunities provided to them.

The official called the instance and stated that “let’s have a positive discussion”, which read as follows, DA Sports Vybez officials asked a question on behalf of every person concerned or involved in the sports industry in Dominica and stated, “why sporting discussions are important?”.

The organization stated the topmost concern related to the sports that the sportsman and the managements face regularly is to keep the young and emerging players motivated all the time during their playing period. It is one of the most challenging jobs for the management of any sports team to keep their athletes in a positive frame of mind which would motivate them to give it all in the field.

Furthermore, if the management is honest with themselves, they must know and understand that it is tough and challenging to keep all the players engaged and involved simultaneously.

The officials shared an example to make it more understandable for the people to know the exact challenges and hardships that the sports teams and managements face,

example: 

If a football team, management tells the players to focus on learning the basics of the game, which is usually “Pass & Control”, after which some of the management professionals shout, scream, and even fall out and even yell at the players.

“The negative actions would only bring negative and opposite results, as coaches and support staff, it their jobs and priority to keep a healthy and positive team environment instead of pushing negativity”, officials stated.

Being a coach is difficult, and as a coach, deep down in their heart, they all understand that this is a real challenge to deal with. 

Officials also pointed out the facilities in which the players have to practise and train, which read as follows,  

1. The average playing field is uneven and not in great condition.

2. How are we going to compete internationally in these conditions?

3. How are we going to access the average child the correct way?

4. Put yourself as an athletics coach and want to motivate your students by using a successful Athlete.

  5. Athletes train in a little section in the gardens, even on a national level.

  6. No athletic track/proper grounds.

Moreover, the officials mentioned an athlete named ‘Thea Lafond, a Triple Jumper born in Roseau. The officials gave an example of her training regime and mentioned her experience as an athlete, and stated that, 

“Thea trains on regular standard grounds for athletes. She would not have made it without going through that process in Dominica. “If she had to train in Dominica.”

Based on my experience, the Athletes know what is happening. They feel like they are being played/fooled. Said authority.

Example:

The players know that women’s football is on the back burner. They don’t trust the system, and they know they are being used the most time to draw down money.

It’s very hard to get these athletes to come and train because they know there’s no real plan, and most times, they feel that they are just being used; this is not an opinion but facts. As per the officials of DA Sports Vybez.

In the end, officials stated that the question would be, “What can or should we do to get the youth to trust the sporting programs?” “How can we get them to trust the system?”, “Do we have anything in place to promote successful Athletes, and what can we do to promote our Athletes?”.