BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MEMBERS of the recently-elected executive for the Organisation of Caribbean Administrators of Sport and Physical Education (OCASPE) had recently met in St. Kitts where they were engaged in discussions to chart a course forward for the advancement of the organisation and its cause in the Caribbean.
The organisation has as its mission, the facilitation of the “development of a quality Sport, Youth and Physical Education experience for the Caribbean, by collaboration and cooperation which enhance technical programmes and professional development”, while its vision is to “become a proactive organsiation encompassing the entire Caribbean region…”
In that regard, according to the organisation’s president, Erskine King, “This meeting that we are having here in St. Kitts will help us to focus on our funding as well as the way forward over the next five, 10 years and try to be able to let the young people also benefit more meaningfully from that.”
Since its establishment, OCASPE has been the advocating voice for “harmonious development of sports, youth and physical education in the countries of the region”, the promotion of “quality of access to sports, youth and physical education activities for all citizens”, and it has endeavoured to “provide an advisory service on regional needs and issues in sports, youth and physical education to regional governments, institutions and organisations”.
Addressing some of the issues that OCASPE has been seeking to bring to the fore over the past years and will continue to champion, President King spoke of the possible hosting of Caribbean Games.
“OCASPE has been the driver in having physical education as an examining subject in the region, and some of the youths and some others who were involved in physical education also act as invigilators and so forth. We were the ones who proposed the restart of the regional games. You would know that in the 60s there were West Indies Games but what we sought to do was to get Caribbean games because many of our track and field stars are only seen by us in the region on television. And we sought to have the Caribbean games (which) were endorsed by CARICOM and then CANOC…”
He explained that the games did not materialise, however OCASPE “will continue to push to ensure that we have these Caribbean games to afford the young people and the older ones as well to see our stars from the Caribbean on our soil.”
The promotion of networking between countries of the region, whereby expertise in certain areas can be shared, is another area on which King indicated OCASPE would be focusing.
“Additionally,” King explained, “we also look to facilitate the implementation of sports for youth and physical education across the region to encourage and promote quality of access of sport as well. Because there are some people who cannot access sport, we mentioned people with disabilities who are not able to do it and we want to continue to be able to push that. Any new building should have ramps so that people with disabilities can access the buildings…”
Just as Ministers of Trade, Agriculture and Health etc. of the region converge ever so often to discuss matters pertinent to their ministries, OCASPE is of the view that similar meetings should be organised in Ministers of Sports.
“…this is something that we need to have because there are so many things happening in this region that we need to highlight, and we need the political help to be able to do it.”
The three-day meeting is scheduled to concluded yesterday (Aug. 12).
