It was a great day for Maltese sport last weekend when the waterpolo national team beat Belarus to secure qualification to the 2018 European Championship finals in Barcelona this summer.
The national team’s qualification was a commendable achievement because never in this country’s sport history had a team succeeded in winning the right to participate in such an elite competition twice in a row.
National coach Karl Izzo and every single player and official deserve all the praise that is coming their way. Their dedication and sacrifice cannot go unnoticed. However, this success would not have been possible without the vision of Aquatic Sport Association (ASA) president Joe Caruana Curran.
After appointing Mr Izzo to manage the national squad five years ago, the ASA embarked on a strategic plan aimed at giving upcoming players experience at an international level. In fact, the U-17 and U-19 national teams started to participate in European Championship qualifiers and both of them managed to make it to the finals.
The association went further, encouraging budding waterpolo players with potential to move to overseas clubs. Indeed, over the past five years more than 20 players joined clubs at elite waterpolo nations such as Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, the United States and Italy.
It is also worth bearing in mind that the number of foreign players in the Maltese league is kept to a bare minimum, thus ensuring that Maltese have more opportunities to fulfil their potential. All these efforts evidently paid off and the waterpolo national team has now established itself among the top 16 on the continent.
Unfortunately, other sporting disciplines have opted for completely different strategies and the end results leave a lot to be desired.
In football, which has at its disposal a bigger budget than aquatic sport, a completely different philosophy is adopted. The number of Maltese playing professional football away from our shores remains stable and their majority is engaged in lower-tie championships.
At the same time, the number of foreign players in the Premier League now stands at eight, which, though, admittedly, not that many, still means eight fewer opportunities for local talent to take part in regular first-team football.
All this is reflected in the performance of the national football team, which, in its last qualifying World Cup campaign, failed to win a single match. It has now slumped to its lowest ever position in the Fifa world rankings – 185th – with San Marino and Gibraltar the only two Uefa members behind us.
All agree that a significant, all-round improvement in Maltese sport is a must. As a start, it would be good for the various federations to study the approach adopted by the ASA and emulate it in those areas where they think it will work in their case because, yes, the level of competition varies from one sport to another. However, if the focus remains helping upcoming sportsmen/women to maximise their talent the chances are they would stand a better chance of making the grade.
There is growing determination among sportsmen to excel. The success attained by the national waterpolo players is clear proof that this tiny island too can enjoy a brighter future in sport provided the right strategy is adopted.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial