We cannot ignore the simple fact that the gap between us and the rest of the world in sports are being narrowed, at super fast speeds, and this is a reason to celebrate, to rejoice! And the beauty of this great change is simply one of pure design, pure conscious thought, executed to perfection! Or at least, we are seeing positive signs of moving towards perfection.
To bring sports to the levels and standards it needs to be at, there’s also another fundamental “gap” which needs to be narrowed. This is the gap between the national associations (also the athletes) and the business communities who have the resources to provide them with something of great value. And this is where #TrainingWithMvChamps concept by the Secretary General of Maldives Olympic Committee, Mr. Marzooq Ahmed needs to be praised for!
His idea of #TrainingWithMvChamps when closely analysed reveals certain things worthy of mention here. For one thing, out of the blues he was the one doing it. He was the one literally training with the champs; experiencing it as the countdown for Rio 2016 began, each day spending time with them, feeling their emotional and physical strain and living their excitement.
Armed with exposure, experience and emotion, #TrainingWithMvChamps concept was taken to the next level where a list of businessmen, CEOs, MDs (i.e. the business community in particular) was asked to experience a training session with the athletes/champs themselves. This probably was the first step of narrowing this large gap (between business communities and athletes) for the better, covered widely on the media and getting new exposure for the athletes and experiences for the businessmen.
Unless business communities and other stakeholders are part of the winning sports formulas, one cannot put the faith in an existing, conventional system of processes to create world or regional champions from our small island nation. It could well be the likes of super fast Saaidhs, or super skilled Dhangandeys and a handful of other potentials. One a year, or perhaps one in many years! To speed this process up, to produce winning athletes year in year out, we believe the business communities must roll up their sleeves, live the emotions of the athletes and provide them the much needed, much required support!
#TrainingWithMvChamps might well be a very well executed strategy. Hats off to Mr. Marzooq no doubt! But strategies come and strategies die all the time. Unless the main objective of narrowing the gaps between the business communities and the athletes are given the “primary focus” with consistency and persistence, the concept might just be a ground breaking idea for our communities that just doesn't have the power to break that ground to address reality!
Editor's note: This article appeared on MINDFIELDSINC and has been republished with permission.
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