kristy.ramnarine@cnc3.co.tt
When did sports become a party? Sports should inspire, not objectify. That’s why Dennise Demming immediately said yes when asked to join Respect Her Game, an initiative led by Dr Gabrielle Hosein to challenge the sexualisation of women and girls in sports.
For Demming—President of Soroptimist International Trinidad and Tobago, mental health counsellor, and avid runner—this was more than just another campaign. It was a necessary fight to reclaim the values of respect, discipline, and well-being in sports culture.
What she sees today is troubling. The focus has shifted. Loud, aggressive music blares at the end of races. Post-race events feel more like parties than celebrations of athletic achievement.
Demming believes it’s time for a reset. And she’s ready to lead the charge.
The mental health counsellor, who balances therapy services with communications consulting, is a listener of Trinibad music—a genre often criticised for its raw lyrics.
“We are using that kind of music at the end of races, at the end of activities. The lyrics of those songs are aggressive, they are not respectful sometimes and that is not the kind of lyrics that you should be hearing after you run three miles,” she says.
“In terms of the type of music I think we need to transition from the type of music young people are creating, young people will say that’s what we want, however, there are some rules and we ought to be able to respect them and obey the rules.”
Demming is of the firm belief that lyrics are simply a reflection of the culture of a country.
“If my contemporaries are not listening to that and not checking in to it, it means they have ignored what has happened to our culture. Our culture has changed it is no longer when I grew up respect was a thing. I grew up behind the bridge, I grew up on Quarry Street, and although it was a ghetto community at the time, it was one in which all the members of the community cared about you.
“They ensured that you did what you were supposed to do and if you went home and told your mother that somebody told you not to do so and so your mother will tell you don’t do it and she would probably beat you for it.
“What we have now is a reflection of what our societies have become and our societies have become disrespectful. For us to change that we have to change the leadership and we have to change things in our education system.”
At the age of 35, Demming started running after receiving the results of an annual health check-up. Her fitness routine became a passion as she began training for several marathons both locally and internationally.
“When you are involved in sports, cycling, running, walking, you’ve raised everything in your body. And when you come back at the end and there is more jamming music, it means you have not come down. You have not event started to relax and that means whatever your activity was, it may not be as useful to your body as it should be,” she says.
“At the end of a session I have to do stretches, take my pressure down, my heart rate down.”
Respect Her Game is about transforming the present to something productive, Demming said.
“When I first started running there were no parties before and after a race,” she recalls.
“Corporate has lost the values around the sporting activities. I think that corporate now is first interested in covering their costs. When you look at the races and you have 3,000 people participating paying $250, corporate isn’t putting money into that, they are breaking even.
“And at the end of it people are going home with all kinds of carbohydrates and food that will not help their well-being, you’ve lost your value system and you are doing this simply for your branding.”
Sport activities should benefit the participants and not be about branding and partying, Demming believes.
“I think we have to transform what we are doing,” she adds.
“Corporate needs to rethink and start to really invest in improving our country. The health of our people is important.”
Demming highlighted that sports should not be a party at the start, a party throughout and a party at the end.