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NEWLY-APPOINTED TT Volleyball Federation (TTVF) president Daymian Stewart believes national sporting organisations (NSOs) must become more innovative and create new ideas to chart a way forward during the pandemic.
Stewart, who served his first term as TTVF president from 2012 to 2016, was again elected to lead the federation at its AGM on Thursday. He replaced outgoing president Mushtaque Mohammed.
Also appointed were Leroy Pierre (delegate vice-president), Nolan Tash (first vice-president), Newton Grant (second vice-president), Kamla Elcock (general secretary), Merlin Ramey (assistant general secretary) and Mildred Francois (assistant treasurer).
Looking ahead, Stewart said the TTVF, like others NSOs, needs to gradually wean themselves off government funding and begin to devise new strategies towards boosting the sport’s popularity and by extension, its investors.
Globally, sport has suffered a major financial blow owing to the pandemic with many still unable to welcome spectators and the majority yet to fully resume.
While Stewart is well aware that several NSOs are dependent on government assistance, he thinks becoming self-sustainable is critical to helping sporting fraternities grow as an independent body.
“There are a lot of opportunities in sport and we facing difficult times with funding and the ongoing pandemic. Within my plan is a vision of innovating and doing things a bit different.
“It’s really about trying to remove the NSOs off government funding because right now most NSOs are dependent on the government. Government funding is uncertain and that puts you in an uncertain position.
“You can’t plan like that. The government is important, yes but we have to do things differently to get different results,” he said.
Stewart said TT continues to speak about using its multi-million dollar sporting facilities to generate income through sport tourism. However, according to him, to date, he is yet to see any of these state-of-the-art structures create avenues or opportunities to attract sport tourism.
In this regard, he is of the firm belief that change must come from within the NSOs to become self-reliant.
“For years we speak about sports tourism and the business of sport but all the evidence has shown that seems to be talk. For us to survive and be sustainable, we have to do things differently.
“It’s about aggressively looking to do things differently. Partnership with other sports and making some noise for sport to be considered a serious opportunity for young people,” he said.
Stewart noted that sport is not all about just having fun. While he acknowledged the importance of recreation through sport, he insisted the next four years of his second tenure at the helm of the TTVF would be more geared towards enhancing the sport in all dimensions.
“There are so many things sporting organisations can deliver to the country besides recreation. My plan is to make the noise in the right way. Once our voices are heard, our goals would be taken seriously,” he concluded.
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