Build the system first

Picture a child on a field, a ball in hand, a coach calling their name, a parent watching from the fence and hoping. Talent lives here. St. Maarten has talent, that is not in question. What we have needed is a path that carries that child from promise to purpose. Or, put another way, a strategic and coherent system that converts raw ability into sustained performance and economic value. Thankfully, it appears that we finally have people at the helm who gets it.

The recent work of the St. Maarten Sports Federation and the National Sports Institute signals a turn from one-off moments to steady, shared progress. If we want to lift our athletes to the world stage, and if we want sports tourism to help our economy, we must understand the science behind building a sustainable sports sector and we must keep building the structure that makes dreams durable.

Three recent steps show what this looks like. The Baseball and Softball Federation’s full affiliation with the World Baseball Softball Confederation puts our flag in sanctioned competition, rankings, and Olympic Solidarity programs. It opens doors to coach education, umpire training, and youth development, all tied to clear rules and fair administration. St. Maarten’s presence at the CANOC General Assembly places our leaders where finance, safe sport, gender equity, and regional partnerships are shaped. These are practical moves, but they also speak to something deeper, a promise that effort here can lead somewhere real. (see related stories).

A third pillar brings the focus home to our children. The Government has published the National Sport Child Safeguarding Policy Guideline in the National Gazette, setting minimum standards for every organization that serves children in sport and laying out a five year roadmap for implementation. It covers government and semi public providers, national federations, clubs, academies, facilities, event organizers, and partner NGOs. It complements the National Protocol on Child Abuse for schools and after school programs, aligns local practice with international standards, and turns legal obligations into steps that any club can follow and enforce. This builds trust. This tells parents that sport is a place of care as well as ambition.

This is strategic growth for a small country: the Sports Federation setting governance and performance standards, the NSI managing facilities and programs, government setting policy and co-funding compliant plans, schools widening the base, clubs developing athletes, and private partners investing in a product they can count on. Talent matters, but structure carries it. Standards protect it. Consistent execution turns it into results.

In the end this is about giving every child a fair chance to move forward, and giving every sponsor and visitor a reason to return. The steps with WBSC, CANOC, and child safeguarding show that the door is open. Let us walk through it with discipline and care, keep the fields safe and the books clean, measure what we do, and let performance, not promises, tell the story.