SUNDAY 5TH OCTOBER, 2014 – UWI TODAY
15
It’s late afternoon and Major
David Benjamin,
the new
Director of the Sport and Physical
Education Centre (SPEC) at The
UWI St Augustine, tells me about
his first encounter with Special
Olympians.
“I was on the Physical
Training Instructors’ (PTI) course
that the military runs every year,”
he says. “We volunteered to run to raise awareness for Special
Olympics. There’s a torch they carry with the “Flame of Hope”
through the country. We ran that torch from Arima to Port of
Spain. Along the route the Special Olympic athletes would come
and cheer us on – people with Down’s syndrome, people with
cerebral palsy. I was stunned.
“When we finished at the National Stadium I saw over 1000
young people gathered from all these institutions such as the Lady
Hochoy Home and the Princess Elizabeth Home and School. I was
totally blown away. My whole concept of sports totally shifted.
I was no longer interested in sport for elitism – who could run
the fastest or jump the furthest. I became interested in sport for
development.”
That interest has helped shapeMajor Benjamin’s 20-plus years
as a military man, his career as a coach of coaches for national and
regional Olympic-level sports, his role as director for programmes
targeting at-risk youth, and his dedication to working with disabled
athletes through avenues like the Special Olympics. The notion
of sport for development is also a large part of Major Benjamin’s
vision for UWI St Augustine as Director of SPEC, the position he
assumed in December 2013.
On October 26, SPEC will enhance one of the university’s
stand-out activities with one of Major Benjamin’s passions. The
2014 UWI SPEC International Half-Marathon will include a relay
race for Special Olympics athletes.
“We decided this year to bring Special Olympics athletes into
the marathon loop as runners,” he explains. “They will be persons
with intellectual disabilities who can run distance.”
SPEC has asked Special Olympics teams to provide 13-
person squads. Each squad will have a runner complete one mile
before passing the baton onto another, that way ensuring a large
participation from athletes with disabilities who would otherwise
have great difficulty completing the course.
Major Benjamin is a regional expert in working with people
with disabilities in sports. For 15 years he has traveled throughout
the Caribbean on behalf of regional and international agencies as
a Special Olympics trainer.
“I go all over the world training and qualifying people as
coaches for nine different disciplines in Special Olympics,” he
says.
Apart from this, SPEC is endeavouring to make the 2014
International Half Marathon (its 11th run) the most competitive
ever.The race will include a host of international runners, including
world class runners fromKenya and Brazil who are seeking to beat
the course record. In addition, the race time will be 15 minutes
earlier this year (the start time is 5.30 am) so that competitors will
not have to start with the dawn light in their eyes.
“The earlier start will help us get a faster race. We think that
given the pedigree of runners that we have this year we are going
to have a record-breaking run,” says Major Benjamin.
“What we are doing here is providing a platform for sporting
excellence and for people to have that balance between academics
and sports,” he says. “A student who is well-balanced in the two
is the best kind of student. If people are successful in sports, the
lessons are easily transferrable to overcoming life challenges.”
From his appearance it is obvious that Major Benjamin is
as much practitioner as he is evangelist. “Sharp” is the word that
best describes him. Sharp cheekbones, neatly pressed shirt draped
over shoulders as straight as if they were drawn by T-square, he is
clearly someone who has dedicated a considerable portion of his
45 years to physical activity.
“I still train quite avidly,” he remarks. “I’ve always had a
passion for sports.”
Fromhis youth in Tobago where he trained furiously tomake
it to the NBA (a dream that did not work out) he moved onto the
Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. And even though he faced
several challenges to make it to the rank of officer, he continually
strived; along the way, fashioning a place for himself as a master
of physical fitness. For five years Major Benjamin held the position
of Physical Training Officer (PTO) of the T&T Defence Force.
The PTO is the officer responsible for the overall training and
assessment of every soldier in the T&T military, including the
Regiment, Coast Guard and Air Guard.
As SPEC Director, he is using these skills to try to increase
the participation of students and faculty in sports and fitness
activities.
“I see coming to the university as an opportunity. It is an
opportunity to continue a legacy started by Dr Iva Gloudon and
the other directors who held this position before me. I see it as
passing the baton to someone with some ideas,” he smiles. “I may
not have all the ideas and I certainly don’t have all the solutions.
But I have ideas.”
Among his ideas is the introduction of new sports and fitness
activities. For the 2014 Carnival season SPEC held their first “boot
camp” style fitness workout for faculty and students. Expecting a
class size of about 30, the UWI boot camp classes regularly had
between 120-130 participants. In addition, SPEC offers introductory
programmes in areas like aerobics, swimming and tennis.
B y J O E L H E N R Y
SPORT
“What I’ve been trying to do is see what we have offered
in the past and get a sense from people of what they want now,”
he explains.
At present, only about 1500 of UWI St Augustine’s student
population of nearly 19,000 regularly access the services provided
by SPEC. Major Benjamin and his team mean to change that.
“Failure is not an option where I come from,” he says. “I
guess that’s just my outlook on life. I always see things as being
possible. I believe in finding a way to achieve the mission, as
they say in the military.”
Major David Benjamin: We decided this year to bring
Special Olympics athletes into the marathon loop as runners.
Failure is
not
an option
Major Benjamin is on a special mission
Photo: ANEEL KARIM
