THA Secretary of Sport and Youth Affairs Tracy Davidson-Celestine has observed that not enough sporting activities are taking place at Tobago’s playgrounds and recreational facilities.

She made the observation in an address on Friday before touring facilities at the Idlewild Recreation Ground, which have been upgraded to the tune of $1.2 million.

“My encouragement is for maximisation of the facility as opposed to arguing for ownership of the facility, because I have always said it, although we make the required investment there is not maximisation of use of the facilities,” she told a small audience.

“Many times when I drive throughout the length and breadth of Tobago I see some of these facilities closed and I don’t see enough activity on the playing fields and even on the hard court.”

[caption id="attachment_915483" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Secretary of Sport and Youth Affairs Tracy Davidson-Celestine - THA[/caption]

She told members of the community that based on the demand and usage of the facility, they can look forward to other amenities in the future.

Davidson-Celestine recalled the residents had lobbied for the facility, which began under former sport secretary Jomo Pitt.

She argued that since 2005, sport has come a long way on the island. She added many recreational facilities and playgrounds are equipped with seating infrastructure, bathroom facilities and well-maintained fields.

“One of the things you will note is that there are top-class sporting facilities in almost every community in Tobago…The kind of facilities that we have here in Tobago compared with the rest of the Caribbean, we are second to none in terms of the class of our facilities.”

Davidson-Celestine said the division’s policy involves community and elite approaches to sport.

“From the community perspective, we want to ensure that in every community, in every electoral district that we have the kind of sporting facilities that would cause our people to play, that would cause our people to harness their respective skills and that would cause the people of the community to lead healthy lives.

“That is why we make these investments. We make the investment to ensure that every Tobagonian who wants to play and lead healthy lives can have a place where they can recreate or harness their skills.”

Davidson-Celestine said the community approach requires responsibility and collaboration from all of the different fraternities to give support to the work and investment being made within the respective villages.

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