DEVELOPMENT.
It’s generally described as the bringing out of capabilities or possibilities of something.
The advancement, growth and/or expansion of something could also be termed as development.
Primary school netball, however, wouldn’t be.
No, that certainly would be the complete polar opposite, because in the most backward step since Serenader’s 1993 foot movements, the National Sports Council (NSC) is trying its utmost to stunt growth in a sport.
I mean, what else could you say when the Government’s umbrella body for sports takes a decision to restrict the access of ready and willing junior participants to a discipline?
And yes, that is exactly what the NSC is doing by telling Blackman and Gollop they can’t have two competing teams full of Class 4 students in the ongoing Pine Hill Dairy tournament.
Last I checked I’m sure one of the NSC’s directives is to introduce sports to as many kids as possible, thus making a puzzling ruling like this in clear contravention of their mandate.
But worse than the decision itself is the defence of it.
Actually I don’t exactly know about any of those arguments. No, seriously I don’t.
Because, first and foremost, there’s kind of no rule in place that relates to the number of teams any one school can put in the competition. This becomes particularly crucial if it ever goes to court.
Secondly, Calvin Briggs – Blackman and Gollop’s coach – was actually allowed to bring two Class 3 teams just a year ago, so didn’t anyone think that he may just want to go this route again when those same girls move up a level?
But thirdly, if Briggs has the ability to produce 18 netballers that can play at a high level, then shouldn’t every single effort be made to ensure they all play regularly?
This is the real shocker for me.
The defending champion Blackman and Gollop clearly have a large cadre of good netballers at their disposal (evidenced by the fact that two of their teams played in this year’s final of the opening day rally), yet the Sports Council would rather run the risk of having some of them drop out of the sport than give them the avenue to showcase their skills.
Apparently Calvin Briggs shouldn’t be allowed to have two netball teams despite having at least 18 good girls to fill them.
And if anyone doesn’t think an 11-year-old would give up an activity because they weren’t given a good reason why they couldn’t take part in it, then that person obviously doesn’t know pre-teen girls.
They clearly don’t know what happens when a sport loses a talented group of kids either.
In case you’re wondering though, just ask Gay Griffith all about the state of basketball now and a certain junior team from 1998.
To be honest, I guess there is a fear of having an all-Blackman and Gollop final, quite like what happened at the aforementioned Aileen Jeffers Memorial rally.
So what if it comes to that?
Again, isn’t the purpose of a primary school competition about developing players and not winning titles?
Maybe there’s a serious concern from the other schools that their chances are limited by the presence of multiple squads from Blackman and Gollop.
Yet why should the NSC genuinely care who’s in the title game if more and more kids are being developed by being exposed to tournament play?
And sporting development doesn’t magically cut off at Class 3, far less third form, so to suggest that it was okay for Briggs to have two teams last year because they weren’t in Class 4 is as dumb as to think that…well…sporting development magically cuts off at Class 3.
All now the NSC basketball coaches wished schools would produce multiple teams yearly, and that’s the secondary level we’re talking about here.
What’s even more short-sighted is that Blackman and Gollop, well Briggs specifically, doesn’t have a programme which goes past the primary school level, so guess who may probably end up coaching these girls after graduation.
That’s right, you guessed it.
So by restricting Briggs’ numbers for one year, the Sports Council coaches could end up limiting theirs for the following seven.
Go figure.
Not that I’m not defending Briggs or anything, because he may just be about winning too.
This could very well be about stroking his ego. I mean, for all we know Briggs is sticking it to the NSC coaches as a man dominating a woman’s world.
Even so, something worthwhile would be resulting from such supposed show of power.
