You have got to work harder and think smarter. There are no short cuts.
One cannot allow sentiment and complacency to override honesty and progress. If your are not making progress you are in fact going backwards and falling behind.
Those were some of my thoughts as I watched the unbridled joy of the Germany team and their supporters.
The just concluded Fifa World Cup in Brazil contained many important lessons, such as the progress made by the Concacaf countries.
Germany’s brutal demolition of Brazil in the semifinals caught the eye.
Hosting the World Cup left expectations of the coronation of Brazil as the number one football nation in the world. That it turned out to be a major humiliation and disappointment is an important lesson.
Not only football but all of Brazilian sport will heed the wakeup call as Brazil would not want to suffer a similar type of embarrassment when they host the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
But what are the lessons in T&T? The first was a reminder of the power of sport to stir emotions, attention and passion. Normal life came to a virtual standstill should because of the event.
On Sunday the Harvard Club was sold out and based on reports a number of venues were similarly packed out.
So any argument that citizens of T&T lack a passion for sport cannot hold water.
The advances made by Concacaf countries are worthy of detailed study.
What did they do to raise the standard of their players, teams and technical staff?
Did Brazil pay the prize for complacency and not paying attention to detail?
The overall hosting of the World Cup seems to have garnered positive reviews. However on the field of play the assessments weren’t all that positive. Some critics claim that it was probably the worst Brazil World Cup team in living memory. An overly critical denouncement?
In 2000 Germany did a searching and detailed examination of their structure and systems.
The results are borne out by the outcome of the tournament. The success of Bayern Munich and the Bundesliga appear to be fundamental to Germany’s success.
With typical attention to the smallest detail, Germany proved that team work, technology, structure and systems are important for talent and potential to be maximised.
The use of technology and the building of their own training camp are reported examples of their attention to detail.
One would be justified in speculating as to where would T&T now stand given the display of the Concacaf nations in Brazil. Can we seriously compete?
With the World Cup out of the way, attention shifts to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to be followed by the Youth Olympics in Nanjing and then in November there is the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Vera Cruz, Mexico.
In two short years, the eyes of the world will again focus on Brazil this time it will be the Rio 2016 Olympics. Unlike the Fifa World Cup. T&T will be in the mix in 2016.
Rising above the obstacles, challenges, issues and problems to meet the expectation of a demanding nation is a reality for everyone involved.
Learning lessons and making adjustments will be critical. In the harsh glare of public opinion and scrutiny excuses are unacceptable.
If we want to seriously compete on the global sport stage, we must change how we think about sport. It would be a shame to waste the lessons from the Fifa World Cup in Brazil.
Brian Lewis is the President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the Olympic Committee.