At the closing Ceremony of the XXII CAC Games in Veracruz on Sunday 30 November 2014, Nolan Tash of Volleyball was the flag bearer for Trinidad and Tobago. The Games opened on the 14th November with Dexter St Louis veteran of 5 CAC Games bearing the flag.

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee continues its focus on our athletes. The theme for this Game was honoring our Athletes and especially the ones who have been long serving members of the National Teams. Athletes who have dedicated the past 20 years, wearing the Red White and Black

Nolan Tash and Dexter St Louis are two athletes, who have won many individuals awards at the CAC Games and other tournaments.  They both now in the twilight of their careers were voted by the CAC Administrative team to be the flag bearers, in honor of the many years of dedication and commitment to our country in their respective sport

What can we say of these athletes whose commitment to representing our country has been unwavering.  Our Gold medalist at these Games George Bovell III and Cleopatra Borel are three peat and two time Gold medalist respectively, both who have been able by their own wits to continue to be full time athletes.  Yes at times they would have benefited from funding from many different sources but the reality is that today they both continue to do all in their power to make ends meet to continue to represent this country.  We were honored to have them on our team.

The Trinidad and Tobago team was made up of 97 female and 103 male athletes.  Not the largest team ever but the first team to have such a strong female presence.  5 female teams represented the country and while it was the male teams that medaled, Hockey Men, the silver medal and Rugby men the bronze, it was a great achievement for women’s sport in Trinidad and Tobago. The only female medal was a good one as Cleopatra continues to show our young athletes that dedication commitment is rewarded at least in competition with a Gold Medal.

As always the questions will be asked.  Why not as many medals as in 2010? Why such poor performances in some of the team sports? Why so many 4^th place finishes?  A few will venture to speculate that our Athletes are not committed, that foreign coaches are needed, that administrators are not providing the right environment.  The list goes on; lack of facilities, lack of training hours on courts and so on and on.

One my even venture to say that these are just excuses but the reality is that we have great expectations for our athletes at all Games but should we not ask the question?  Have we given our athletes the tools to represent our country to the best of their ability?

What about the motivation intrinsic and extrinsic to be an elite athlete? (It is well documented that athletes are required to train a minimum of 20 hours a week to be considered a high performance athlete)

90% of the athletes that represented our country at the CAC Games were part time athletes.  However these athletes are no longer competing against part timers in any of their sports.  The Athletes from Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic Venezuela and many more of the Spanish speaking countries are predominately full time athletes.  How can we compete?  How do we stay competitive?  How do we close the gap? Where do the conversations begin?

The reality is that unless we make the changes we will continue to have false expectations.  We cannot continue in Sport the way we have in the past.  It cannot be “business as usual” when we attend these Games. We must decide whether we are high performance sport or whether we are recreational sport.

The medical support at the Games was superb. The outstanding team of Doctors, Physiotherapist, Athletic trainers  and massage therapist were kept busy from the arrival of the first athletes. This type of support should be ongoing for our athletes and not only provided by the TTOC Medical team at Games. This would be only the start of the conversations.

Our nations athletes deserve more.  We must not only begin the conversations but act on them as Dexter St Louis, Nolan Tash, George Bovell and Cleopatra Borel just wont be able to fly the flag forever.

Annette Knott

Chef de Mission

XXII CAC Games Veracruz

Chef de Mission Annette Knott led the delegation, which included 280 officials, coaches and athletes in

Athletics, Swimming (Pool and Open water), Waterpolo, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoe/Kayak, Cycling, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Volleyball (Beach and Indoor).

The medal haul included - 2 Gold, 1Silver and 8 Bronze.

GOLD

George Bovell lll - Men's 50m Freestyle (Swimming)

Cleopatra Borel - (Shot Put)

SILVER

Men’s Hockey

BRONZE

Kwesi Browne - Men's Keirin (Cycling Track)

Michael Alexander – (Boxing)

Christopher George - Men's 100 kg (Judo)

Roger Daniel - Men's Ind. 10m Air Pistol (Shooting)

George Bovell lll - Men's 50m Backstroke (Swimming)

C. Humphreys/D. St. Louis - Men's Doubles (Table Tennis)

Dorian Alexander - Men's Under 68kg (Taekwondo)

Men 7’s Rugby

...it will be a shame to just let it go

AMERICAN Randy Waldrum has urged the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) and THE Government to learn from past mistakes and not just let the national women’S football programme fall back into the obscurity from which it came, following the Women Warriors agonising failure to qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’S World Cup.
The Soca Warriors lost a two-leg Inter-continental playoff 1-0 on aggregate against Ecuador for a spot in the World Cup. A highly-rated American coach of the women’s professional team Houston Dash, Waldrum donated his services for free in a bid to qualify T&T for a first appearance at a senior women’s World Cup. As disappointed as he is, Waldrum said T&T’s women footballers had touched many hearts around the world. He called them a Cinderella team.
“We’ve developed some good momentum here and I don’t think we need to just stop and let it go,” Waldrum said. “The next step going forward to start to build on it. As disappointed as we are, it will be a shame to just let it go down and take a back seat once again. We can’t have that happen. We need to go forward.”
“I am really proud of the group, but extremely disappointed for them. Especially those older players, who have put so much into the game,” Waldrum added. “I think the future is bright. We have a lot of good upcoming talent like Anique Walker and the Debesette twins. But for those players who this might be their last opportunity, I feel very disappointed for them.”
Waldrum felt his team played well against Ecuador, whose game plan he said, was to sit and counter and take advantage of set plays. “The two areas that I am disappointed in is that as much as we had the ball, we did not create enough clear opportunities to create great shots on goal.
‘’We had a lot of services and crosses into the box, but we did not get the clear shots. The other thing, defensively, was giving up the foul late in the game. Those are things we addressed all week, that there was no need to foul a player out wide. We did and (as a result) we are not going to the World Cup.
“I think we were much better tonight that we were in Ecuador. We were much healthier than we were at CONCACAF,” Waldrum said. “We got three or four chances I thought we should have scored. We didn’t, and when you keep teams hanging around it happens.”

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Trinidad and Tobago bringing home 10 or more Olympic Gold medals is both realistic and achievable.

Sustained effort, scientific approaches, and ongoing development programmes are all necessary ingredients.

A critical success factor, therefore, is access to dedicated, predictable and systematic funding.

The challenge is to dedicate and commit the requisite resources both at the administrative and technical levels.

A mechanism through which Government can fund Olympic and High Performance Sport is by dedicating a percentage of Lottery Funds to sport.

Great Britain is an example of how National lottery funding of their sporting system made them one of the sporting super powers at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Trinidad and Tobago can develop and sustain a high performance system that could deliver success once the dedicated financial investment is made.

We can compete on equal terms on the World and Olympic stage.

We have the talent and potential to develop a world class high performance infrastructure and system that will deliver Olympic, World and Continental Champions and World and Olympic championship qualifiers on a sustainable basis.

To build a sustainable high performance system national sport organizations and governing bodies, athletes, coaches and national teams need the resources to do the job.
Brian Lewis
President
TTO

Team Trinidad and Tobago represented our country proudly at the 12th Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) from 14th to 30th November 2014 in the city of Vera Cruz, Mexico. Chef de Mission Annette Knott led the delegation which included 280 officials, coaches and athletes in Athletics, Swimming (Pool and Open water), Waterpolo, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoe/Kayak, Cycling, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Taekwondo and Volleyball (Beach and Indoor).

Our medal haul included- 2 Gold, 1Silver and 8 Bronze.

Gold- George Bovell lll- Men's 50m Freestyle (Swimming)

Cleopatra Borel- (Shot Put)

Silver- Men’s Hockey

Bronze-Kwesi Browne - Men's Keirin (Cycling Track)

Michael Alexander – (Boxing)

Christopher George- Men's 100 kg (Judo)

Roger Daniel- Men's Ind. 10m Air Pistol (Shooting)

George Bovell lll - Men's 50m Backstroke (Swimming)

C. Humphreys/D. St. Louis - Men's Doubles (Table Tennis)

Dorian Alexander- Men's Under 68kg (Taekwondo)

Men 7’s Rugby

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee wishes to congratulate all the athletes on their valiant efforts and thank the organisations involved in making our participation at the games possible. Local partners- BpTT, Guardian Group, Scotiabank Limited and Lisa Communications, International partners- The International Olympic Committee and Adidas, and the Ministry of Sport and the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago.

The president of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has urged members of the national women’s senior team, the Women Soca Warriors, to be proud even in the face of being knocked out of World Cup qualifying.
“We did not qualify for the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, but we can certainly hold our heads high as a team and as a nation. Now is not a time for regrets,” TTFA president and Port of Spain Mayor Raymond Tim Kee said via a media release, yesterday. ‘’We were defeated by Ecuador and we did not cross the final hurdle, in the most unfortunate way, but that’s sport. Sometimes the better team loses.”
Tim Kee admitted that the World Cup qualifying journey was a challenging one. But stated that in the face of difficulty the team persevered, and won the hearts of the nation. “You reignited that unity and passion we shared as a country in 2005/2006 and some of our previous World Cup
Qualifying matches at the same venue in Port of Spain, and you had the rest of the country glued to their television sets. You are our national heroes,” Tim Kee said. “We have proven that we are a force in CONCACAF.
‘’We need now to affirm ourselves as a force in women’s world football. We clearly have the talent, and we, the administrators need to ensure that the right structures, people and resources are in place to nurture and hone that talent,” Tim Kee said. “Like you, we at the TTFA must learn from the experiences of this journey, and take steps to ensure that we are all better equipped and prepared for future contests.”

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T&T skipper makes appeal on behalf of Women Warriors after loss to Ecuador

The Women Warriors need jobs.
Team captain Maylee Attin-Johnson specifically mentioned her colleague Ahkeela Mollon when she highlighted a problem facing many of the players on the national team, which failed to qualify for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup when it lost 1-0 to Ecuador Tuesday night at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
Many have been through the United States college system and have graduated with degrees, but cannot find jobs in Trinidad and Tobago. At best, most of them have gotten ‘on-the-job training’,” she said in an interview after the match.
Attin-Johnson also called for meaningful resources to be invested in women’s football.
“A lot of us are not only talented footballers, but we are very intelligent young ladies as well. We went abroad, got a degree, and it is very difficult to come back home and not get jobs,” Attin-Johnson pointed out. “So, hopefully the heads that be can facilitate that. Help us throughout our football career and even after.”
Like many of the older players, the women’s team captain has to think of a career ahead, and at age 28 she is unsure whether she will see another World Cup qualification campaign.
“Four years from now? It’s hard to say. Especially with a loss like this. I am very distressed at this moment,” Attin-Johnson stated. “A lot of things have to change for us to commit our time. We (are) getting older, so we have to find a career that will finance us through our lives,” she added.
The captain also called on the authorities to improve the status of women footballers, so that upcoming footballers do not have to face the hardship they went through during the World Cup qualifying campaign.
“Football is not my life, it a passion for me. I graduated with a degree in sport management, so I can fall back on that. But for the other kids coming up, who are in school right now, they have a lot of football to play. Granted, I hope, a lot of resources is pumped into women’s football,” she said.
“I hope now they can see what we can give and what a little resources and investment in women’s football can do. Hopefully, the head that be, take charge and start putting money into women’s football,” she added. “I hope a lot of resources is pumped into women’s football to make it easier for the ones going to school, and the ones that are coming up to have a way of life,” she ended.

Early August, 2014: US-based coach Randy Waldrum is hired and accepts leading the team without pay until the TTFA gets funding.

August 27: One day after winning the Caribbean Championship, captain Maylee Attin-Johnson and the team’s coach Randy Waldrum appealed for funding to gather the team together to train and prepare properly in preparation for the October 12-26 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.

October 5: Six days before the start of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship, some members of the Women Soca Warriors are stranded in T&T ahead because the TTFA had trouble raising $40,000 to process visas for the team. A planned pre-tour camp that was expected to include warm-up matches, is compromised and the TTFA scrambles to get the team together in time for their first match against world number one ranked USA.

October 6: The final members of the team travel to Dallas, Texas, four days after the team’s originally scheduled departure. In a last ditch effort the Ministry of Sport bailed out the TTFA providing financial support to cover costs for the training camp in Dallas to run until October 13 and other allowances and team-related expenses. Petrotrin provides casual wear and $75,000 to assist in the visa payments.

October 8: Coach Waldrum tweets about the T&T female soca warriors, “I need HELP! T&T sent a team here last night with $500 total. No equipment such as balls, no transportation from airport to hotel, nothing.”
October 9: The Haitian football team and the T&T diaspora in Dallas contribute over US$10,000 to the team. The coach is able to raise much needed funds while the Ministry of Sport injects over $200,000 to help the team.

November 26: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar scolds the TTFA organisation to get its house in order to provide funding for football in T&T as she delivers a promised one-off $1.5 million incentive payment to the team.

December 2: At a post-match interview after their 1-0 loss to Ecuador, captain Attin-Johnson appeals for help with securing jobs as she and several of her teammates have failed to secure jobs despite being qualified.

—Compiled by Mark Pouchet

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