Harding Highlights Linkages Between Sport and Community Development

Adviser to the Minister of Tourism, with special responsibility for Marketing and Investment, Zachary Harding has said there are major linkages between sport and community development.
“Sport in general, but football in particular, is one of those activities that we can actually use as a country to help transform the entire nation. When you really look at the game of football, all the things that go into making a winning team, these are things that we can use to guide us in our lives,” he said.
Mr. Harding was addressing the Hopewell/Sandy Bay Sports Council Football Corner League presentation ceremony on March 15, at the Round Hill Hotel Staff Club in Hopewell, Hanover. He was deputizing for Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett.
Citing the game of football as a reflection of life, he outlined the principles of teamwork, good discipline and strong leadership as absolute necessities for both a successful football team and a successful life.
“You cannot operate in isolation of everyone else around you. So, you have to apply the same principles of teamwork in football to teamwork in your community, teamwork in your family and teamwork for your country,” Mr. Harding said.
Similarly, he said no team or country could exist without a leader, whether appointed or elected, and called on today’s leaders to set a good example of strong leadership for the younger generation to follow.
Highlighting discipline as the third essential principle in the game of football and in life, Mr. Harding said that “you will not be able to succeed unless you have the discipline to train, discipline to remain focused, and the discipline to apply the strategies to what you are doing.”
He encouraged the awardees to always think about those principles, in the context of how they could apply them in their communities and moreso towards nation building.
The Hopewell Football Corner League was sponsored in the sum of approximately $420,000 by the Round Hill Hotel, located in that area. General Manager for the hotel, Omar Robinson, gave a commitment to continue the sponsorship of the competition for the 2008 season.