SPORTS Director in the Ministry for Youth Development and Sports, Patrick Mathurin said COVID-19 impacted the Ministry just as much as it did national sports federations.
Last year’s annual Inter Secondary Schools Championship had to be called off when the Government of Saint Lucia, upon the advice of the Ministry for Health, closed all schools on the island.
What therefore would happen to schools’ sports when schools reopen later this year?
“The sports unit in the Ministry of Sports has not stopped working even though we were not able to have competitions. We discussed COVID-19, we did have meetings with the Ministry of Education and the Curriculum Specialist in terms of where we move from here,” Mathurin said.
According to him when the pandemic was at its peak the Ministry ensured that coaches produced a number of video clippings so that school children, especially the targeted ones, were physically active.
“We will be continuing along that line as we plan and prepare. There was one particular idea that we were already discussing at the Ministry for Youth Development and Sports since we would not be able to host the Inter Schools Championships,” Mathurin said, referring to a School Invitational Championship where schools would be asked to send in various athletes.
“There are a cadre of athletes out there training and we thought it was necessary to give them an opportunity. To date we have not decided whether or not to shelve the idea. We have not gone very far with it because we are still keeping a close eye on the protocols,” Mathurin said.
He added, “In the meantime we are preparing. We have our Cuban specialist Robert Dororo, who is helping us along with the schools’ sports department. Dororo is doing a lot of methodical training to ensure that we get ready in terms of school sports. That is where we are.”
