Few human pursuits bring as much pride and joy to a country as excellence in sports by its citizens and Grenada is no exception.

Having no great achievement in science, space exploration or industrial development to boast about we have long relied on our sports people to bring us some glory and global visibility and recognition.

Royston La Hee has been involved in sports in one way or the other from as far back as many people including himself can remember. He has not only observed but taken an active part in the evolution of local sports and continues to be influential in its development.

La Hee has certainly been around sports for the last 34 years since Grenada became an independent nation and has regarded that changes that have taken place over time with mixed reactions.

He said certainly there are a lot more opportunities for sporting people to compete at a higher level than was the case 34 years ago.

The sporting organization veteran recalls that in 1973 the only sporting association in Grenada that may have been associated with the international body was the Grenada Amateur Athletic Association.

He said after independence however a lot of sporting associations got affiliated to their international bodies. He explained that ones of the reasons for this was the formation of the Grenada Olympic Association, a move initiated by Mr. Roy St. John who was then President of the Grenada Football Association and Minister of Sport.

One of the conditions of being recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as being an Olympic association was having at least five (5) national associations affiliated to their international bodies.

La Hee recalls the local football association getting affiliated to FIFA in 1978 and the other associations following suit to the point where now about fourteen (14) local associations are affiliated to their international bodies and this is necessary too for them to be affiliated to the Grenada Olympic Committee.

This La Hee said has certainly given our athletes a lot more opportunities to participate at the international and be on the world stage.

In the past a local track and field athlete for example could aim no higher that the Southern Games or the Texaco Games in Trinidad and Tobago but as time progressed our athletes especially the junior athlete got the opportunity to perform at the CARIFTA games where they can match skills with other athletes throughout the Caribbean region.
The CARIFTA games which started in the late seventies La Hee said was where Grenada’s athletes started to show themselves.

As far as the football association is concerned being affiliated to FIFA gave Grenadian players the opportunity to play lots more games against other islands and countries beyond the region.

In cricket, in the last thirteen years we have had three persons playing for the West Indies and in other games it has been much the same. Our boxers have competed admirably on a regional and international level including the Olympics.

Commenting on what appears to be a declining spectator participation in local sports, La Hee said it is partly the fault of the associations not building their fan base.

He said they have to initiate programs to generate continuing interest in sporting activities.

He recalled the days of good strong club structures when the various clubs had their following which always came out to support them.

What is wrong with the development of sports these days? La Hee said it is unusual to get a well rounded student who is good at academics and also a good sports person. This he said is because there are no well organized programs to mould good athletes from across the school system.

In recent years technology has begun to play more of a significant role in sports around the world and La Hee said this has been one of the drawbacks for us here in Grenada.
We are unable to keep up with the rest of the world there.

For example we don’t have any trained physiotherapist in Grenada or doctors specializing in sports medicine or highly qualified trainers in gyms etc.

The sports enthusiast said having gone forward in international sports that aspect of it has not kept up here.
In addition we cannot keep up with new advanced training methods, advanced training equipment and training aids, supplementation and facilities.

La Hee’s lament is that in sports in Grenada especially in track and field athletes fritter away soon after they have left school.

In track and field the highest level of competition is the Inter Col and athlete on leaving school do not encounter a cadre of more experienced competitors who would be more experienced than they and therefore push them to train and compete harder.
He attributes this again to the breakdown of the club structure in athletics since in the past persons competed well into their 30’s making it more challenging for the young athlete just leaving school.
However a lot more of the young athletes have opportunities to go abroad to study and train now and that helps them to not only become better athletes through a higher level of training but also academically qualified individuals
La Hee became involved in sports administration with football when he came from university in 1968.
He served first as treasurer of the Grenada Football Association then served as Secretary for many years then President for a while.
La Hee has also been involved in the national basketball association, the Amateur Athletics Association and has been a bastion behind the development and evolution of the Grenada Olympic Association now Committee for a great number of years.
The sports administrator said athletes of the past had fewer distractions than those of today and therefore spent more time training and exercising.
In addition by necessity they walked much more to and from where they needed to go thereby being fitter
He wants to see better administration and structuring of sporting development in Grenada.
La Hee thinks the sport will only develop if there are structures that people have to adhere to and this will foster more organized development of sports.
He also wants physical education to be compulsory in schools where each child has to get involved in some porting activity or the other. This will give us a bigger pool of athletes and more scope for international recognition in a larger range of disciplines.