When he took up the position as Minister of Sport on February 3, many thought that former football star Brent Sancho was a mad man.
With just six months to go before the general elections, it was as if he was playing a football match and brought in by his coach (in this case Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar) in the 90th minute with his side down.
What he was able to achieve in the short time was to save his team with a solid performance that he hopes will take them to victory in the penalty shootout come September 7.
When Sancho came in as Minister of Sport, I remember interviewing him and he told me the first key directive was to bring a level of stability to the Ministry of Sport and the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT).
He took a hands-on approach at the Ministry, working hard with the administrators and technocrats to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the Ministry and its systems, as well as doing a complete review of all the statutory bodies under the Ministry’s purview.
Within a little time he was able to get a board appointed to the SporTT in April, after the company had been without a board for nearly nine months.
Checks with SporTT showed that he also ensured that monies that were outstanding to various contractors who were working on various multi-million dollar projects were duly paid following all the necessary procedures and protocols, thereby ensuring that the projects were not delayed or ran over budget.
Under his stewardship the SporTT also competed its 2014 audited financials, which are due to be published within the next few weeks.
What was pleasing was the fact that the Minister took over and assured the timely completion of major projects. Yolande Pompey recreation ground will be handed back to the Princes Town Regional Corporation on Monday. The upgraded Irwin Park sporting complex is nearing completion and could be handed over to the regional corporation and the people of Penal and Siparia as early as next week.
Sancho has also taken a very keen interest in the completion of the three mega projects that are expected to be the biggest legacy of the PP administration in the field of sport.
The three sporting facilities are nearing completion and will be fully operational within the next few weeks. (Cycling Velodrome, Aquatic Centre, Tennis Centre)
Additionally, the people of Toco/ Sangre Grande will soon have a state of the art indoor sporting arena, the contractors are doing the final finishings on this multi-million dollar facility that will accommodate many sporting disciplines. The Minister is expected to take community and sporting groups in the region on a walk through within the next fortnight, I am told.
Tobago was also was his radar and as almost two years of being non-functional, the Minister, after meeting with the THA and representatives of OSHA, mandated his teams to bring the Dwight York stadium up to code in time for the Legends soccer tournament which was held in June.
The team under the supervision of the Minister got the job done in time and also opened up the stadium and its practice facilities for the various athletes on the island to train and prepare for various regional and international competitions and tournaments.
In what was easily his most ambitious project of his very short stint as Sports Minister, Sancho created the first ever professional women’s football league in the region. Attracting a wide range of talent from the Caribbean, North, Central, South America and Europe, the league was a critical and financial success. The games attracted even more crowds that the men’s professional league as the Minister took the games to communities throughout the country rather than having them played in the various stadia.
The result was a tournament that saw great football, massive crowds, excellent sponsorship and tangible proof that women in sport can be commercially successful and popular.
After an absence of three years, Sancho reintroduced the very popular vacation youth sport camps staged by the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago. Currently, thousands of the nation’s youth are participating in the two-week camp which is being staged at venues across the country with an option of over ten sporting disciplines.
Participants receive introductory or developmental training from certified coaches and assistant coaches. Lunch, water and equipment are all provided and at the end of the camp, the unearthed talent is further developed through community sporting programmes done by the Ministry, SporTT or the sport’s National Governing Body.