dominica2day: A weak mind in a weak body

A weak mind in a weak body
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Lloyd Pascal on 12 February, 2008 05:40:00
 
The old proverb, “once beaten twice shy” if taken literally may well be the
reason why Dominica keeps losing game after game without any signs of a letup to
this trend. My five years at the Dominica Grammar School taught me that one must
always endeavor to have “a strong mind in a healthy body” (Mens sana in
corpore sano) – our school motto. This was visibly translated in the many
successes that the school had in both academia and sports. A phenomenon that I
wished was passed on to our young national sports figures in 2008.
For years now we have failed to show signs of significant improvement in our
sporting activities particularly in soccer (football as we know it) and cricket.
Since the years of Lockhart Sebastian, Thomas Kentish and Irvin Shillingford,
Dominica has failed to produce winning teams that can make our country proud.
The reasons for this slide are endless; inadequate facilities (sports stadium
recently opened) and equipment, insufficient investment in the disciplines, bad
attitude of players, lack of incentives (since it’s all done on a voluntary
basis) inadequate physical and mental preparation, weak administrative bodies
and many more. I guess the coaches, administrators, players and onlookers like
me can find a myriad of reasons why we perform so badly year after year.
My comments come after watching in dismay the performances of our NATIONAL
teams against Barbados. Firstly, I believe that our players lack the inner
strength that is required to succeed. It takes courage and self determination to
go against the odds and win. There must be a passion for victory, a strong
desire to excel and move on to the next level. Few of our players have exhibited
those qualities.
Then secondly, there must be the physical strength to execute what the mind
says is achievable. It’s no point having guys with weak physiques trying to
battle it out over players who show greater fitness. One slight push and
they’re down or an attempt at a six results in a catch at long-on. This is
just unacceptable performance. It is absurd and demoralizing when Dominica
cannot score a meager 104 runs required for victory in a 20/20 tournament after
putting up a great performance in the bowling department. It is absurd when
Dominica’s football selectors prefer to select overseas based players who
really look like a bunch of under 19 schoolboys rather than players like key
midfielder Dr. Pharaoh Cuffy who has shown a passion for winning games. That’s
frightening! What was the rational for such foolish decision? Do we value our
“foreign based players” whom we know very little about more than those who
are involved in national leagues whom we see perform month after month? What
criteria were used to select these players? Was this done because the other
local players did not pass the fitness tests? Or is it simply because it sounds
good to our ears when we say that our team consists of five or six “foreign
based players”? I’ll be honest with you, what I saw was absolute nonsense.
It is a level of nonsense that Dominica cannot repeat in Barbados or anywhere
for that matter. It is a level of nonsense that our coaches and selectors should
be ashamed of and should apologize to the general public for. There is no way
that in 2008 Dominica should be wasting it’s limited resources to bring home
players who are not fit, exhibit limited talent and skills and certainly not up
to world cup standards.
It is high time that we spend the money to train (mentally and physically),
those among us who exhibit a passion for the games. Not just anybody but persons
who are skilled, energetic, teachable and loyal. I would like to give the
sporting administrators one job to go find this caliber of players. They are out
there and we can mould them to be true representatives of our country.