High Performance cannot flourish without imaginative thinking!
View(s):The acute focus that has been generated by the Ministry of Sports (MoS) through the underpinning of the NSC on a High Performance trajectory geared to produce top international athletes and the noble quest for medal winners, is not out of sync; it is extremely laudable. Over the last six months or so, this gambit has been a single-minded trust led by one of Sri Lanka’s most revered sportsman and outstanding cricketer, Mahela Jayawardene.
Around him, has been assembled a coterie of reputed sportsmen and businessmen who speak a non-nonsense mantra for top level sporting prowess. That they are a serious bunch with excellent credentials are not in question. But to the discerning eye, even they languish in a misshapen sports management structure that pervades the beautiful edifice sitting in the prime location of the Old Race Course!
While the overall thinking for High Performance is sound and cleverly conceived, the inefficiency of engaging with the National Sports Associations in a proactive way leaves much to be desired! At the operational level there are glaring irregularities, not deliberate in nature, but processes that require fine-tuning and a more refined management. Let’s take a closer look:
The MoS has to pick the sports that they believe have international class and potential results, at least up-to 2024 – Olympics! These NSA’s must be contracted with an MOU which spells out their mutual obligations; not a one was top down operation that limits partnership!
A tripartite agreement must be entered into with the athlete, spelling out the MoS and NSA expectations. It is the NSA that must assume complete responsibility for the outcomes, monitored by regular agreed results which must be assessed each month.
The overseeing coach must also play a predominant role in this tripartite agreement and training plan. Without these collaborators on the same wave length, every good plan can easily go awry!
Around the selected Tier 1 athletes, there are a bunch of aspiring challengers waiting to come on board. They must beidentified, observed and locked in a Tier 2 structure which is thankfully in place!
Importantly, the NSC must come to grips with the strategic plans of the NSA’s, because a mere medal search must not be a one-off exercise but a launch pad for a sustainable championship culture and the long-term wellbeing of dedicated sportsman.
One is gratified that the energetic Sports Minister walks the talk. He has the support of the government network and excellent relations with the Minister of Education, which is an integral part of the exercise. The NOC in fact launched a Junior Development Program with the two ministers in attendance, but once again it was more razzmatazz, than serious lateral thinking. The sages who conceive such plans must offer more depth and structure into the concept, laying down benchmarks and milestones to bring it to maturity. Otherwise, it remains a bright idea that loses its shine very quickly.
The MoS also requires a substantial restructure. An outdated bureaucratic maze debilitates the thrust and speed that this government agency must demonstrate on a daily basis. Regularly, the MoS produces a plethora of circulars often duplicating and in the process confusing the recipients, especially the NSAs. Keen-jerk reactions following ministerial department meetings to merely cover one’s ineptitude does not help. What is important is that these memorandums must be made useful and mandatory, so that they do not cause a block in the plumbing; important actions must flow from directives not distract from its very purpose!
The MoS assigned representative role is also largely ineffective. These point-persons ceremonially appointed are hardly in the loop and carry multiple responsibilities in addition to their own conflicting pursuits. All this demands that the MOYS Secretary is given the task of undertaking a reorganisation of the various departments of sports that come under his purview. The DG of Sports Development is at the apex in the present structure, but there appears to be very little integration with the other bodies, so much so that the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing!
Sport cannot eventually be run from ivory towers! Performance is ultimately evidenced in the fields, pools or halls of play! Those engaged in sports management must have clear vision of these arenas and feel comfortable in these surroundings. Without empathy for the performers and their lot, no stratagem can fulfill the ultimate goals of a nation in the vistas of sport. Who will offer that imagination remains to be seen, even as we take strength from the Sports Minister’s determination!