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| Thursday, 28 October 2004 |
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Sports | |
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Tapping rural talent The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has embarked on a new islandwide talent search program in five sports - athletics, soccer, volleyball, netball and kabadi. The new venture, named 'Kreeda Shakthi' (the power of sport), is aimed at picking talented youth from the provinces and grooming them in sports activities. Thanks to the initiative given by the youthful Minister of Sports, Jeewan Kumaratunga, 'Kreeda Shakthi' fulfills a long felt need of going in search of rural villages to find future stars of Sri Lanka sports. The program will be inaugurated from the district of the sports loving Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse and will kick off from Weeraketiya tomorrow. The Premier, who headed the local track and field governing body seven years ago, has shown a great interest in sports development and his blessings will be a big boost to the program. Rajapakse, who also heads the Steering Committee of next year's eight-nation South Asian Games in Sri Lanka, could make use of his good office for the betterment of our sports. The Sports Ministry should make full use of its broad nationwide mechanism to keep the program going and should coordinate with the Ministry of Education to tap the schools. All Sports Ministry officials and the physical training instructors of schools should rally round the Minister to keep the 'Kreeda Shakthi' program going. The Secretary to the Ministry Susathadasa Ranugge, Director General of Sports Milton Amarasinghe and Deputy Director Dervin Perera have a big role to play to make the venture a success. All national level sports and the Sports Ministry instructors of the five sports will participate in weekend workshops and coaching clinics to be held in each district. Only those who have not competed at national championship could take part at the 'Kreeda Shakthi' program. The Ministry plans to take it to all districts across the country. What everybody should realize is that this not a personal exercise of anybody. Hence, it should be included in the proposed national sports policy, as it should continue irrespective which party is in power. Sport is a great leveler, irrespective of race, religion and state. Hence, everybody should forget their political affiliations, club affections and personal differences to make this exercise a great success. It should be an uninterrupted program, which could find suitable youngsters for the feeder pools of the respective sports. We hope all coaches would get-together and work hard for the success of the venture because it is our country that would enjoy the results at the end. On the other hand, the Sports Ministry must make sure this would not be just another program. The Ministry must make sure there would be adequate funds to ensure the smooth conduct of the 'Kreeda Shakthi' program. Out of the rural youth who participate in the program, natural talent should be carefully identified and should be invested for the future. Even if we conduct the program well, the desired objectives could not be reached if a constructive plan is not drafted to groom the talent identified. All those who are identified as prospective national players in their respective sports should be given a comprehensive training. Initially, they could not be mixed with the existing national pools. Sportsmen and women identified under the 'Kreeda Shakthi' program should be trained separately under qualified basic coaches who could identify the hidden talents of those youth. For example, an athletic coach involved in the program should be clever enough to identify whether a prospective athlete is suitable for track or field events. If it is track then under which category - sprints, middle or long. Or a soccer coach should be quick enough to identify whether a talented participant could be groomed as a forward or a back. Such correct pre-identification should be made so that each of them could be given intensive training in the areas in which they have special talents or abilities. That is the way it is done in developed countries. We too could try out the same successfully, provided there would be an uninterrupted flow of finances to meet the demands. Hence, it's the duty of the Sports Ministry to make sure that such a creditable exercise would continue uninterrupted. Even if they cannot fully finance the project, they must find a sponsor to support them. Perhaps there many not be many sponsors coming out to back such a program because of the limited mileage it could offer. But there are sponsors like Dialog GSM, which sponsors disabled sports without expecting much in return, who believe in their national duty as true corporate citizen. Overall, contributions should come from all corners in the fields of training, technical assistances, coaching, nutrition, medical and finance to put the whole action plan going. We hope this will be a fruitful exercise. |
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