WALTER ALIBEY
walter.alibey@guardian.co.tt
The sport of jump rope has been hard-hit by the current recession brought about by the fall in oil and gas prices globally. Vice president of the T&T Jump Rope Federation Mahalia Duncan-Regis yesterday explained that they are unable to send two teams out to represent the red, white and black of T&T because of lack of funding.
One team comprising nine members, has been scheduled to compete at the Pan American Jump Rope Championship in Orlando, Florida, USA from July 1-9 and another team made up of 16 participants, is preparing for the World Championship soon after (July 17-26) in Portugal, but the costs for these outings will be a whopping $430,000.
Duncan-Regis explained that officials of the Ministry of Sports said in a recent meeting that they cannot commit to any sport financially due to economic crisis which has led to the ministry receiving a seven per cent cut in its budget allocation.
She said her organisation was told that no sport can say how much or what it will get, or if they will get any financial assistance at all. For the Pan Am tournament, nine students which participated at the recent National Jump Rope Championship at the Jean Pierre Complex, will each have to raise $30,000 which will cover airfare, accommodation and meals.
This equals a combined total of TT$270,000 for nine participants. Members of the teams which comprise Akkasia Charles, Jerrisha Duncan-Regis, Isaiah Stokes, Kewes Gomes, N’Janela Duncan-Regis, Khadeem Sydney, Jair Cadogan and Runako will be terribly disappointed if they are unable to participate at the championship, as they have been in training for the tournament for a while now.
To enhance the readiness of both teams for the tournaments, the federation has employed United States coach Mike Fry for a one month. He is expected to conduct a number of sessions with the team before they wing-out for their respective meets.
Duncan-Regis explained that her Federation is currently negotiating with Fry whose fees could range from TT$25,000 to $30,000) during his stay here.
She said: “To ensure the team competes at the Pan Am, the federation has already accumulated about $20,000 which was raised from a few fund-raising ventures which our Federation will continue to stage in an effort to try and realise the dreams of our athletes.”