Contributions of Sport Flashcards
Generation of Income
Next to tourism and music, sporting activities have become a major contributor to the economies of Caribbean states by providing employment through the collection of taxes, spectator fees and sports venue rental and from the marketing and sale of sporting merchandise. Tourism specific to sport is an important adjunct to this.
TAXES:
-Sporting activities have contributed to government income through the collection of taxes and tariffs from sporting goods coming into the country.
-Sporting professionals and athletes also contribute to government coffers, and, by extension, to the economic and infrastructural development of the Caribbean, via direct PAYE and other forms of income taxes.
Employment and Earnings
- The traditional income earning fields in sports include athletes earning from participation in various events and the employment of coaches, officials who monitor sporting events and members of sporting oversight and regulation bodies.
-Money coming in from spectators through the staging of national sporting activities contributes to the widespread employment of workers who maintain and run these facilities before, during and after sporting events.
-The owners and operators of sport wellness facilities also earn greatly from both recreational and professional athletes. Gymnasium and spa operators charge fees for use of their facilities and these are increasingly in demand resulting from the successes of Caribbean athletes.
Media and Advertising
-The Caribbean’s various media outlets earn large sums of money per year from the broadcasting and advertising of sporting events. Caribbean television media buy the rights to popular sporting events and air them exclusively on their own stations in order to secure viewership and earn from advertising spots bought around the airing of these events.
-Sports merchandising and endorsements have become fast-growing industries in the Caribbean, especially with the increasing popularity of athletes from the region.
Tourism
The success of Caribbean athletes and teams in international sport has in turn drawn in international competitions and spectators from abroad. These, combined with the emerging niche tourism market that offers packages based around water sports, hiking and so on, have created a relatively new source of income for the region.
Health and Fitness
Sporting activities form part of the programme that help to ward off lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancers that plague people all over the world, including the Caribbean. Good health forms one of the bases for human development as it is necessary for full empowerment of the individual. Health problems caused by inactivity and lack of exercise can negatively affect productivity and economic growth because when people are ill, it can show their performance as well as lead to absence from work.
Sporting activities have over the years been a main pillar in the formal education system of many Caribbean countries. It has even been a CXC subject for the past decade.
Educational Opportunities
It is widely known throughout Caribbean secondary schools that taking part and doing well in a sport at school level can open opportunities for students to earn scholarships and bursaries to attend Ivy League universities in foreign countries. These Scholarships have given many Caribbean athletes the opportunity to access a tertiary education and expand their exposure to new forms of coaching to help them transition into being professional athletes.
New courses and educational opportunities have opened in many fields in the Caribbean as a result of the contribution of sports.
Discipline and Morale
Sportsmen and women throughout the region are often admired for their commitment to improvement in their respective fields. This is because of the discipline that it takes to commit to specialized diets and extensive training programmes that help on the road to becoming a better athlete, required commitment in order to succeed, along with the need to perform in the spirit of fair play.
Involvement of sports is used by businesses such a those in the orivate sector in Jamaica, where emplyees work together and compete in teams for prizes in Business House sporting competitions. The aim is to boost teamwork, which is important for any organisation and to promote teamwork, which is important for any organisation to be successful. Thus, the acquisition of discipline and morale through the extension of sports competitions into the world of business can contribute to training employees in the importance of commitment, teamwork and health and fitness, which in turn will have a positive impact on productivity.
Development of Caribbean Identity
The Caribbean is known globally as a major source of sporting talent; especially in the areas of track and field, cricket, football/soccer a d more recently swimming. As a result of this association with famous athletes, Caribbean nationals are fast becoming known for their athletic prowess. The association has become part of our Caribbean identity. This attribution has become so widespread that secondary school students often list sports as their extracurricular talents to gain entrance into prestigious foreign universities and colleges, knowing that university recruiters often identify Caribbean nationals as sportsmen and women. Caribbean athletes have filled vacancies for talent in various leagues and sporting competitions across the globe because recruiters and sporting scouts often offer Caribbean nationals scholarships and positions on professional teams.
Sport Tourism
Sport tourism is a fast-growing dimension of visits to the region. Sports fans and even athletes visit to watch or take part in major sport events held in the Caribbean. These visitors spend money on accommodation, food, entertainment and souvenirs that help to support local Caribbean economies. The success of Caribbean athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games put the spotlight on track and field as an area that could be exploited in terms of tourism. Its significance is not just in the staging of events; sport tourism also has the potential to bring attention to the emerging state-of-the-art training facilities now being built all over the Caribbean.
International Recognition
The global recognition on sports brought to the area by the Caribbean successes has been accompanied by significant monetary sports investment from private sponsors seeking to benefit from the attention their companies receive by being associated with popular sports and athletes. This recognition has also created scholarships for student athletes and professional opportunities abroad for Caribbean athletes and coaches. The international recognition of the Caribbean in the field of sport, of its high-performance athletes and world-ranking teams in track and field, cricket and soccer/football in particular, serves to promote not only the cricket and soccer/football in particular, serves to promote not only the region’s sporting achievements but also the region as a whole.
