Sports
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sports sake get a system that works This column has been preaching about this eventuality over and over again. But, besides getting ready for the vote war at the next AA AGM the hallowed officialdom has done nothing or is not doing any thing to arrest the situation. To learn the reality, just see the present status. The SAF games scheduled for July has been postponed for next year, but the date is yet unknown. The reason for the postponement was that there was insufficient time for the athletes to get ready for the event. Good. It would have been madness for us to go into the games in July with the preparation they would have had. But then in the aftermath what is happening? The athletic pool which was to begin training from 15 January 2005 is still in slumber. With this kind of lethargy and indifference can you expect a sport to sustain itself? Then we can track back and see when this indifference or can we call it the rot set in? In the pre-1994 era the education department along with the the other athletic machinery had cast the correct spell -- they had mooted a system that worked and was practical. The education department in its place had a system going. In
athletics they had This meant that there was a proper filtering system in the run-up to the National School games level. At the same time the school teachers were educated in this field with seminars and the coaches were encouraged. At every district a sports school was established which meant that school sport was taken very seriously. Then
in the next step at the national level were This meant that there was a proper filtering system from the bumpy track at the Handapangoda Madya Maha Vidyalaya to the Sugathadasa Stadium and then to the sports ministry grounds. This system did not end there. Then once the athletes reached the national level their next levels were also seen to. In this era one could have obtained employment as a physical instructor of a school with the GCE Ordinary Level plus a sound sports back ground. Besides this at all government departments ten points were added to a sports candidate's points at the interviews. This way the system worked and the results were evident. Out came a stardom of super athletes -- Damayanthi Dharsha, Susanthika Jayasinhe, Dhammika Menike, Sugath Tillekeratne Sriyantha Dissanayake, Sriyani Kulawansa -- the names were hitting the headlines and athletics which was dormant for years was hitting the headlines. Sri Lanka had entered its golden age of athletics. Then came the post '94 era. A different government, a different school of thought, plainly and simply a different system began take root. Gradually the glamour of the said meets began to lose it glitter. One by one fences began to rot and the rural athletes who took the country by storm were confined to their own playing fields in their villages. The openings were closed. The young ones saw no future in athletics. However the lucky lot who had already hit the top kept on running and bringing home the honours. They could not be stopped, they kept on hitting the headlines. So no one noticed what was happening at the background till reality stared right in their faces. Sri Lanka has not lost the talent. The talent is there, but what you got to do is design a system of harnessing it. If it could have been done once it can be done again. What one really needs at this moment is transparency, dedication and honesty. If any one is to be blamed for the present situation the persons that must take the rap are the ministers of sports and education in this country since 1994 because they let themselves get misguided. |
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