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July 2011
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OLYMPIC DAY: Sports students manage the show
Being part of the worldwide observance of Olympic Day and ensuring that the Olympic spirit is kept alive in the hearts of athletes, the TTOC hosts an annual event where participants take part in a range of Olympic-related activities, from wheelchair races and ballroom dancing to aerobics. Romany has noted that the event had traditionally been managed in-house, but this year was a first, as the TTOC teamed up with the FIFA/UWI/CIES Events Management in Sports class where students were given the opportunity to put theory into practice by demonstrating their organizational skills. Romany said that Olympic Day strategically uses sport as a tool to build confidence and highly praised the students for their efforts. The SPMA 5005 – Events Management in Sport is a compulsory course in the 24-credit Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management offered at The UWI, St. Augustine Campus. The other courses include Management in Sports, Law and Sports Finance, Sport Facilities Management, Sport Marketing, Communication in Sports and Human Resource Management in Sports and are meant to enable the holistic development of students in the dynamic environment of sport management. To fill the missing niche for sports training and management in the Caribbean, The UWI collaborated with the Centre International D’Etude Du Sport (CIES) and FIFA to design this programme, the only one of its kind in the region. July examinations concluded the first ever FIFA/UWI/CIES Postgraduate Diploma in Sports Management. |
Responsibility plus failure can add up to a learning experience if you treat it wisely, was the advice from Larry Romany, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) as he gave some pointers on successful event management. Leadership, structure, hard work, communication and dedication were the winning combination, he said, a credo now etched in the minds of The UWI postgraduate Sports students who, under the guidance of Lecturer, Dr. Spiro Doukas, were given the challenge of managing the 2011 Olympic Day as part of their practicum for the course, SPMA 5005 – Event Management in Sports. Olympic Day, which was held on June 25th 2011, at Chagville Beach, Chaguaramas and was attended by approximately 2,000 people.