CAY HILL--Sports is a billion dollar industry and Maikel M.A. Cornet wants St. Maarten to tap into it. A karate instructor with a police background, Cornet is the new director of the National Sports Institute (NSI) of St. Maarten.
The appointment was made effective November 1. Cornet’s vision includes short term plans and long term goals. Short term, Cornet and his staff are busy trying to clean up St. Maarten’s sport facilities. Long term, he says, “We wish to have facilities that are on international standards.”
Cornet, who served on the board of the St. Maarten Sports Federation, understands what this will take. “We need to invest in our sports product. Our product is our athletes. Getting the proper facilities for them to prepare, getting the proper training for coaches, these are very important.”
Cornet is pragmatic. He knows the upgrade will cost money. He also knows his first priority is to get the facilities in a safe enough condition to be used. “NSI did an unofficial damage assessment on the facilities,” he explained. “What we have been doing is cleaning and repairing where we can with own personnel.”
Raoul Illidge Sports Complex was put at the top of the priority list. It is, in fact, already open for daytime use. It is also the home of the NSI. The John Cooper Jose Lake Sr. Ballpark in Cul De Sac and the Melford Hazel Sports and Recreation Center in Sucker Garden were next on the list. Both are expected to be ready for limited use by the end of next week.
NSI is still waiting on the L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium. The large court has been used as a staging area for distribution of relief supplies. “As soon as we regain control over this facility we will open up to sports organisations,” said Cornet. Once everything is open, money will be sought for the bigger repairs like the field lights.
“NSI is a very important part of the sports puzzle,” said Cornet. He sees organized sports as a triangle made up of three organizations working together. At the top is the Sports Department and the supporting sides are the Sports Federation and the National Sports Institute. Cornet is working on building NSI into a fully functional foundation that will market St. Maarten sports and athletes to the world.
First, he needs a budget. He wants to work with government to establish a small tax, perhaps one or two guilders on fuel sold on the island, or perhaps on sodas like in the United States or on the Lottery as in Curacao. Once a budget is in place, Cornet wants to go after the big bucks... “We wish to create new sports facilities and have sports dormitories for visiting sport organizations and athletes.” He mentioned the possibility of having an Olympic size swimming pool. He continued, “We wish to host international games on our Island.” His vision includes a larger role for the sport of cricket. “We will be launching a dynamic marketing campaign to achieve this goal,” said Cornet. “I am calling out government, government-owned companies, business and the society at large. Let us all put our heads together and put our island on the international sports map.”
