T&T sportsmen and women will no longer be competing just for glory of victory after government yesterday gave approval for monetary rewards through the adoption of the National Policy on Sport (NPS) 2017-2027.
The policy was laid in Parliament by Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith due to the fact that T&T has been without a national sport policy since the expiration of the 2002 National Sport Policy in 2012.
Emanating from the policy is the institution of a formal documented Incentives and Rewards Framework for national athletes who medal at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Cup and/or World Championships in identified sporting disciplines and thereby bring international recognition to T&T.
This Framework, which also received Cabinet’s favourable consideration, will see athletes medalling at the Olympic Games being awarded TT$1,000,000 for gold medal,TT$500,000 for silver medal and TT$250,000 for bronze medal achievements.
Athletes medalling at World Cup/World Championships will be awarded $500,000 for gold medal achievements, $250,000 for silver medal achievements and $125,000 for bronze medal achievements.
This means that national athletes will no longer have to wonder what they will receive for their successes in sport on the international stage.
The new policy 2017-2027 was systematically developed through document reviews, public consultations, stakeholder interviews and a combination of electronic and other survey methods. The Policy embraces two overarching themes, namely, ‘Development of Sport’ and ‘Sport for Development’, which in turn are underpinned by 13 broad objective areas, focused on achieving the policy vision of the establishment of clear pathways towards holistic sport development and sporting achievement.
Minister Smith said: “We, at the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs are athlete-driven and we stand committed to the attainment of holistic sport development, whilst supporting our athletes’ pursuit of excellence at the highest levels of competition.”
The NPS 2017-2027 employs a collaborative approach towards objective achievement, by highlighting partnerships with counterpart Ministries, such as Health, Education, National Security, Community Development, Social Development and Local Government.
The policy also employs a supportive framework, not only to facilitate implementation, but also to ensure the achievement of the desired outputs and outcomes. This framework includes: 2017-2022 Sport Development Plan (NPS Implementation & Action plans); 2017-2027 NPS Monitoring and Evaluation Framework; and 2017-2020 National Framework for the Development of Sport and Sport for Development.
Minister Smith reiterated that the monitoring and evaluation framework is critical to the successful implementation of the NPS and applauded the Ministry’s continuing efforts in this regard. He also noted that a Maintenance Policy will also be tabled as an adjunct document to the NPS, to provide guidelines for the maintenance of the country’s TT$4billion sporting asset base.
Additionally, the financing of sport is to be addressed in a comprehensive Sport Funding Policy which speaks to several funding streams, including for elite athlete support and athlete development.
The incentives framework also identifies rewards for junior athletes as well as para-athletes who medal at these high-level competitions.
Cabinet also agreed to the application of the Framework to recompense individual athletes who medalled at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Cup and/or World Championships from 2015 to 2017, and considered the special case made for the rewarding of national teams which medalled at these competitions over the same period.
More recently, approval was granted to reward senior national teams for first-time qualifications only for the Olympics, World Cup and/or World Championships. The first beneficiaries of this will be the national senior men’s hockey and national senior women’s volleyball teams which qualified for their respective 2018 World Championship tournaments.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES TO BE REWARDED
4 x 400 metres Men’s Silver Medal, 2015 IAAF World Championships
4 x 100 metres Women’s Bronze Medal, 2015 IAAF World Championships
Athletics Gold, World Youth Championships 2015
Athletics Bronze, Olympics 2016
Athletics Gold, Silver, Bronze, Paralympics 2016
4 X 400 metres Men’s Gold Medal, 2017 IAAF World Championships
ICC Women’s World T20 2017
ICC Under 19 World Cup
Athletics Gold, Paralympics 2017
Athletics Bronze, World Championships 2017