Caribbean Games 2009 - Identity Loss

By Dustin P Prudhomme

Trinidad and Tobago will host there first ever Caribbean Games with nearly 1300 athletes throughout the Caribbean joining thousands of onlookers to see the best of the best compete for the gold. The headliner events of the games are; boxing, track and field, indoor volley ball, beach volley ball, netball, and tennis. As of press time, the following countries will be represented during the Caribbean Games; Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St Kitts, Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad, Tobago, Turks & Caicos, and United States Virgin Islands.

The Caribbean Games will have a host of international visitors from the Commonwealth Games Federation and many more members of the international community. Involvement from the Honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Ms Louise Martin, will help to secure the future of the games as well has help to assist the medal winners of the games get the needed international recognition to compete in other worldwide competitions. But is this enough to protect the identity of the games?

Peter Samuel stated, “The games are something that is definitely needed. It has been in the pipeline for a while and only now being implemented.” Mr. Samuel is the Public Relations Officers of the National Amateur Athletic Association. He went on to discuss that more money was needed to place into the games so the best of best could clash and provide some of the best match ups from teams and individuals throughout the Caribbean.

With the current economic outlook, will the best of the best be able to clash to make the first Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Games a true success? Only time will tell as the games are slated to begin July 12 and end on July 19, 2009. Looking at the countries that will be represented during the games one can only imagine the current recession in those countries will have a major impact on funding and support of the athletes from each country. With many Caribbean countries, the economic funding is largely generated through tourism; the current tourist trade is down nearly 30% in most Caribbean countries following a down turn of nearly 16% last year. With Revenue per Available Room (REVPAR) down both years and a grim outlook for the remainder of 2009, the financial backing of many athletes and teams is also seeing the same reduction if not greater. When a government has to make a decision on whether to maintain public service such as police, fire, medical, and public works versus supporting the local games, one can only think the government would support the services over the games. This will have a significant impact on the level of competition in this year’s games.

While many game events bring in revenue through sponsorships and ticket sales, this year the Caribbean Games are selling tickets online and at various retailers for reduced pricing to ensure maximum public participation in the games. With the potential for the ticket sales to be reduced in volume, sponsorships dwindled, and lack of government funding; will the games be recognized on the world wide circuit as comparable to other regional and national qualifying events for world competitions and the Olympics? Could this reduction in notability hurt the athletes and the Caribbean nations without large backing from the United States of America and England?

Will the territories with the largest support from the parent countries do best because they are still able to obtain financial support from outside their country? Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands will be able to obtain funding from the United States Olympic Committee while the British Virgin Islands will be able to obtain financing from England. Will this additional funding give them an advantage over the rest of the competitors?

Hard work, constant training, dedication, funding, team work, team spirit, and pride are some of the basic requirements for an athlete to be successful while competing on the worldwide circuit. With all the time and energy invested by athletes, their families, and supporting networks, one must wonder will the current economic recession be the biggest competitor of the games. Will the overall competition loose out because the lack of competitors due to funding. Not that anyone wants to take away from the games and who will be handed the medals but one must look into what the other countries will say when these winners compete during the next Summer Olympics and the question in the back of their mind will be, did they truly compete against the best of the best in the Caribbean or did they compete against the best fundraisers. This will only hurt the current identity of the Caribbean Games. While many will enjoy the sights, culture, and events while visiting Trinidad and Tobago, the games will have many questions hanging over the event about its identity. Who competed? Why did they compete? Were they financially strong? Did anyone get left out of the competition?

(Dustin P. Prudhomme is a contributor to Island Vibes Magazine and writes about Caribbean culture, business, sports, and entertainment. For comments, please feel free to contact him at dustin@islandvibesmag.com.)