THE EDITOR: I am seeing 'food and drink coming out' a lot now. Anyone else notice this? Does Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh see it too?

The reason team sports were shut down in April, after only being open for six weeks, was because Deyalsingh was concerned that 'food and drink coming out.'

The Government wanted to discourage liming after sports, so it bypassed sports and reopened the liming. Bravo! Who is it fooling?

In October we saw restaurants, bars and casinos reopen. Not to mention that all of these places are where 'food and drink come out.'

The individual sport that Prime Minister Rowley enjoys, golf, has cooler limes in car parks, but team sports are still closed. I did not realise that team sports have more 'food and drink coming out' than individual sports like golf.

I saw a function months ago in Chaguaramas for the rifle range, a prize-giving. I was walking by and saw cars, heard music, saw the 'food and drink coming out.'

Don't get me wrong, I am all for fun times and a return to normal, but there cannot be one set of rules for some and another set of rules for everyone else.

Let me move to the youth (the most neglected and forgotten group) whose 'drink' refers to water and soft drinks.

Over-12s who are fully vaccinated since September are still not at school (that's a whole other fight for another letter) but they are:

* At the cinema where 'food and drink come out.'

* At the water park where 'food and drink come out.'

* At the mall where 'food and drink come out.'

Guess where they are not because 'food and drink come out.'

* On a football field.

* On the artificial turf at the Police Barracks.

* At the Woodbrook Youth Facility playing hockey.

* On a field playing cricket.

At Jean Pierre playing basketball or volleyball.

I do feel a bit like a spoilt child carrying on like this, but it's frustrating and heartbreaking having a fully vaccinated child who cannot play team sports. This is time they do not get back. Minister Deyalsingh, if the children promise not to have 'food and drink come out' would they be allowed team sports? I think they could make this sacrifice considering they have made the most sacrifices since the start of the pandemic.

Can we please end this laughable joke of team sports being closed for 19 of the 21 months of this pandemic?

The youth of this country have nothing and the Ministry of Sport is doing nothing to fight for the reopening of sports clubs and school sports.

The Sport Ministry says it's the Ministry of Health. The Health Ministry says it is Rowley who is the one to call the shots on team sports reopening.

Who exactly is holding a torch for the youth of this country, truly fighting for team sports to reopen? The silence is deafening!

It's a shame the people in charge don't realise that sport has a huge role in nation building. We need sports to elevate qualities like discipline, determination and teamwork.

At the rate we are going, it won't only be 'brain drain' that this country will be suffering from, it will al