[Bendedknees]

Why we continue to play other sports when it is clear to a blind man on a trotting horse that because of lack of resources or lack of body size or lack of some shit we will never excel in those sports?

Let us stick to cricket man at least we have that infrastructure in place that will allow us to do well!!

No tell me why i should watch Barbados trying to qualify for the world cup...geeze!!!

[cedaw]

Why should Barbados only play cricket?

Cricket is the only sport that anybody in Barbados likes to play or watch?

I heard only yesterday on the news that the English speaking Caribbean, including Barbados has the lowest university enrollment rate in the entire Americas.

Over the last few years several young bajans have earned university scholarships in athletics, volleyball, tennis and football. They go away and come back with valuable skills to help develop the country.

How many scholarships have ever come out of cricket? For all our dominance in cricket, how much real human development has come out cricket in the 100+ years that we have been playing it?

Methinks a good case can be made that we play too much cricket..

And by the way watching the Bajan Rockets beating Cuba and Costa Rica at the stadium was great fun

[Bendedknees]

Do you know the millions of dollars that we spend as a nation to support all these other sporting diciplines? I will concede that we have acquired a few scholarships out of some of these "other" sports but the recognizition we have recieved as a Caribbean nation is priceless when consider that we are an exotic tourist destination. CRICKET HAS PUT US ON THE MAP!

Even if we are able to produce high quality sportsmen in other areas they will always be ver few for some of the reasons outlined in my previous post.

By the way I enjoyed the Bajan Rockets five minutes in the sun too ;D

[cedaw]

Do you realise how much money, time, effort and emotion has been invested in cricket in Barbados over the last 70 years BK?

BCL cricket in almost every village, 3 divisions of BCA cricket, mutliple leagues of school cricket every weekend for almost the entire year... people staying up to 3am listening to cricket and can't work the next morning... the interminable time spent discussing and agruing about cricket... instant money lotteries carrying away old people's pensions for 30 years ... bats, balls, stumps, pads, helmets, boxes all imported from abroad ...acres and acres of land that could be growing food or something devoted to playing cricket

I seriously doubt if all the other sports put together could even amount to a tenth of the total cost of that has been spent on cricket.

But given the astounding investment level that cricket has enjoyed, has it really given us a commenserate return on investment ?

Over the last 50 years, Barbadian society has invested in volleyball probably less that 1/1000th of what it has in cricket, but look at how much volleyball has already already achieved in terms of international visibility, avenues of opportunity to Barbadian citizens and potential revenue earning capability.

Even a sport like hockey, that has received mere slither of the investment of cricket brings a respectable level of visibility to Barbados in the various hockey festivals that are staged in Barbados.

Cricket might have put us on the map, but the cost of putting us there sure was high. So I for one am not going to write off the other sports that seem to be giving us more bang for our collective social buck.

[Bendedknees]

Well Cedaw if one look at this in economic terms your argument would satisfy. Of course you fail to factor the intangible for which cricket is mainly responsible for a vast majority of West Indians at home and abroad. This intangiable I would suggest is priceless!!! regrettably I do not have the words to adequately describe the feelings which overcome and sometimes overwhelm the West Indian when cricket is being played. Cricket in the Caribbean epitomizes how island states separated by water can unify in a way that no other institution in the Caribbean has been able to do. Cricket symbolizes how an underdevelop area in terms of resources can use a particular talent to become better than our colonial masters and other more superior. Cricket by our past success represents a fire which we must forever ensure that it glows. I could go on but finanally I would concede that my position is somewhat extreme but of course it is the extreme position which always seem to evoke debate

[Bendedknees]

Well, we have just finished participating in the World Netball Championships and the Junior Pan American Games and what have we got to show for it? Can we ever produce a cadre of sportsmen and women that can truly compete on the world stage outside of cricket and the low mass appealing draughts?

I think not!

[DeTruth]

In terms of athletics, and some of the other now more popular sports, my question is, does B/dos have the funds to provide the training necessary and on a year round basis, to produce top class performers? To be the best or one of the best, funding is needed not only from government but also from the private sector.  

What is B/dos’ goal – to reach the semi/final stages even if they don’t walk away with a medal? And, to be selected to compete against top performers from around the world? I'm sure the competitors gave their best in any competition, but unfortunately, their best is not good enough.

[cedaw]

You complaining bout a lil netball and athletics BK?

It's cricket, our "world stage" sport you should be complaining bout if you want to be consistent. Do you realise that Barbados has not produced a batsman, bowler or wicketkeeper that is/was capable of commanding a permanent play in the West Indies team since the 1970's ?

You can be rest assured that much,much more has been sqandered on cricket in that 30 year interim than will be spent in the next 100 years on netball and athletics. Now *that* is what I would call having nothing to show

[Bendedknees]

Cedaw I will respond to your last post which was filled with many holes ;D.

The Barbados cricket team over the years has been predominantly responsible for making up sucessful WI teams of the past. It is known that like most things in life we have cycles, ups and downs. At the moment we are struggling a little but even during this time of struggle the Barbados team has still been dominant. This is reflective of the fact that the standard of WI cricket at the moment is not very high.

I will make the point again do you think we have the resources to compete with first world countries to create a sports program that will produce world class atheletes?

You inquired how many players Barbados has produced since the 70s to command a play in the WI team. I will admit that we have not had many but we must look at cricket and what is does for Barbados and the West Indies at a more global level. I am sure that you would have heard that over 10,000 Englishmen will be packing their bags to come to Barbados next year and we also have the World Cup coming up. Can you name a single sport which we have that can command the attention of our region and generate the FX dollars?

[Ricardo]

I cannot believe what the two of you here arguing about!  The fact is that sport in Barbados is poor all round and it has to do with the attitude of the athletes, the coaches and administration.

Let's look at track: We have 2 of the strongest track & field teams in the world, located in the Caribbean. Cuba and Jamaica. What have we learned from them? Why are our atheletes not going to these places, regularly, for training? One of the reasons I can tell you is plain and simple arrogance. Critcise coaches in Barbados and you hear all of the talk about how much certification they have etc, etc.

Now a few years ago when our swimming team started to do a lot better, one of the coaches involved in the development was a cuban...

I have to leave that there, got to do the biddings of the slave drive that i work for

[cedaw]

LOL I feel kinda sheepish now Ricky :-/ You are entirely correct, but I say your points blow BK out the water !!

Two!!! count them !!! Two poor countries right here in the region who are the greatest sporting nations per capita in the world!!

First world resources ?? blahh!!

In the meantime not a single world class cricket product for over 30 years and you telling me bout up and down cycles and beating Windwards Islands and dem in some pooh pooh regional competition.

Man cricket just like sugar cane. We got into the business not through any concsious decision, but inherited it though our colonial legacy. Then it turned out were pretty successful at it for a while, and it  brought social and material value to the society. But instead of branching out to bigger and better things, we hang on and on talking bout the past while the world changes around us.

Another mistake BK... You think a country needs to be a world class power in a sport to enjoy the economic benefits you talk about ? Has the Caribbean produced any good golfers? Yet golf might probably the sport that brings in more foreign dollars than any other in the Caribbean.

And you don't know that the WICB, the stewards of our "world class" cricket product are considering hosting some WC  games in Florida, the Cayman Islands and Argentina ? How many top cricketers they ever produced?

And you know what the funny thing is ? If they do get to host them they will probably pull off the matches better than us cricket playing nations. So you better don't count your chickens before they hatch, and pray that Bim gets a few decent matches.

[Bendedknees]

Man Cedaw you are venturing into the realm of the tangential :. Number one, Jamaica because of its proximity to to the USA benefits from world class competition all year round, as a result they have developed the ancillary support to be sucessful in sports. Secondly the sports program in Cuba is 100% subsidized/supported by the state. The athletes are paid to be sportsmen. Remember that the seeds for their sports program were sown back in the cold war days when they recieved massive support from the the Soviet Union. It must be noted also that this is a communist country which means that this system of government encourages poor athletes to strive for excellence.

[Bendedknees]

This is pathectic I heard on the sports news today that the girls volly ball team won bronze and the men nothing. How can a society of medium height people expect to beat those six footers from Cuba and Brazil? geeze!!!

[Ricardo]

I always wondered about  our volleyball team (men's) and the height disadvantage. The team has however proven that it is good enough to dominate volleyball in he eastern caribbean but I do not think they will go any further without the help of a foreign coach (preferably from Cuba). It will be the experience and ability of the coach to make sure that height is really not that big factor that it is right now.

Look at the NBA. They are a lot of "short" players who are very good in a sport dominated by tall players.

Now, BK since it seems that we are not going to be only playing cricket I think that we should look at trying to export more of our track & field atheletes - It does at least  give them very good opportunities. I say that Barbados upgrade a lot of the tracks located at secondary schools and community centres and have competitions every 2 weeks at different tracks throughout the island.

I am a firm believer that the best athletes come from the lower socio-economic group. It potentially contains the best T&_ atheletes, swimmers, lawn tennis players etc. We certainly know that it has the best cricketrs right

[Bendedknees]

Ricardo you need to compare apples with oranges in the NBA a short man can only plat the point and in volleyball a short person can only play setter. It is there  not correct to say short people play NBA. We need to headhunt tall players. I agree with you about T&F with some good management we could produce a few world class sprinters.

[Bendedknees]

I have been very critical of wasting valuable resources on developing team sports other than King Cricket. However let me be the first to salute Barry Forde who against the odds has been able to achieve excellence!!

Go to the top of the class Barry.

[deerick]

Congrats to MR. BARRY FORDE as well,  he is truly a young man on his way up and he should me awarded all the luxuries that the others got.
However I am concern about Oba. With all the other athletes in his class on the circuit and doing well he has not done anything for the last 2 years. I share some concern about his return after such a long layoff. He has just pull out of the PanAm games. The AAA  should look into it as the Olympics games are only 1 summer away.