00:00Training has a lot of ups and downs. There's a lot of activities happening in the Dwight
00:05Yokes Stadium while I'm preparing for the Paris Paralympic Games and it distracts me
00:10a lot because most of my training days, right now I'm in the final cycle of my training
00:15and a lot of interruption so it's very tough to stay balanced and connected with the event.
00:21Akeem Stewart said a gym is needed for athletes to train properly at the Dwight Yokes Stadium
00:27as the majority of equipment occupies these containers on the stadium compound.
00:32Yeah, we're lacking equipment. The stadium needs a gym number one because it's hard to
00:37train more from this training location to go somewhere else to do strength training
00:42and the other gyms don't have sufficient weight for me to lift.
00:45And as the lone athlete representing this country in the men's discuss at the Paralympic
00:50Games, he is calling for a home for track and field in Tobago.
00:56Track and field need a home or we need access to the Dwight Yokes Stadium. Right now I'm
01:01getting access but it is not sufficient to me because I need to train at least five days
01:05a week, train-wise, and it's tough and the support for the sport, we do have a lot of
01:12local meets and yeah, there's a lot of contention with other clubs and stuff like that, you
01:18know, and sometimes it doesn't feel, it doesn't feel like continuing the sport sometimes,
01:23to be honest, because we represent the country, whether we do good or bad, you know, people
01:28still, they come and they tarnish us, tarnish our name, give us a bad name and they come
01:34down hard on the athletes but only when they come and see the kind of condition we train
01:38in, they will understand what we go through as athletes, so.
01:41In part two of our interview with Hakeem Stewart, he tells us of his feelings to give up the
01:46sport. Elizabeth Williams, TV6 Sport.
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