Develop individual athletes

NEVER has the case for direct funding for individual sports been more compelling than it is now.
As a well-known boxing coach lamented before the recent Pacific Games, many elite athletes reach a high standard and are then not supported with continuing programmes.
There is an abundance of untapped talent out there but sporting bodies lack the resources to develop it.
Apart from the relays, seven athletes in track and field won a total of 12 gold medals in individual events.
I don’t think those athletes would mind me saying that most, if not all of them would not be participating in the sport at all were it not for the educational/training programmes that Athletics PNG has put them on.
We all recognise how sports such as rugby league unite the nation as everyone gets behind the PNG Hunters.
Surely if PNG could afford to spend large sums of money on rugby league it can also chip in annual grants to help us to develop our individual athletes.
We, the sporting bodies know our athletes personally and we know how to tailor programmes for athletes who are at different stages of development and have different academic backgrounds.
For PNG to win the games there has to be some strategic investment in the sports that can produce the most medals.
If we plant some seeds now, then for a modest investment we will reap the rewards in 2023.
We need to act now to avoid losing talented athletes who see no future in continuing full time training when they are under pressure from families to either get a job or an education.
Don’t wait until 2022 to start thinking about preparing a team.

Tony Green, President
Athletics PNG