DEPUTY Lucy Stephenson, the new assistant minister of Economic Development with responsibility for sport has pledged to spend more face-to-face time with the sports communities on-Island.
She follows in the footsteps of Hugh Raymond and feels that female representation within the role is important.
Stephenson said: ‘With a much more diverse and gender balanced States Assembly and council of ministers, I thought it would be the perfect time to have a female in charge of the sports portfolio also.
‘We have had some great champions of sport that have served as our predecessors, who have worked tirelessly to be a voice for sport on the Island.’
The role serves up many challenges, including trying to keep the importance of sport on the agenda, when other matters such as housing, cost of living and education typically dominate the discussion.
‘Sport can very easily get lost on the agenda among the other topics for this government,’ she said.
‘There are so many areas of importance, but when you look at sport as a whole and start to break it down, it’s something that touches many lives on this Island in one way or another.
‘Right through from babies learning to move, through to our elite level athletes and everywhere in between.
‘I have stood for this role on a platform of greater public engagement and reconnecting with Islanders in a meaningful way.
‘For me, sport is an incredibly powerful way to achieve that public engagement.’
Having grown up an avid netballer, Stephenson knows first-hand how sport can prove vital in ones upbringing.
She has now also reconnected with sport in a different way, attending karate classes at Su-Zen-Kai with her son.
Stephenson said: ‘I joined about two months after the birth of my second child as a way to get some ‘me time,’ but also as a chance to spend some quality time with my son.
‘I think sport in general is a huge part of my life and as a mother, my son would be playing sport every minute if he could.
‘It is the communities around sport that excite me the most and where I think I can bring my skill set to the table.
‘Sport currently sits under economic development and partly with infrastructure on the facilities side, however there are arguments it could fall under education or within the community section.
‘What this means is there are many areas that sport links to and I feel that, I have to step outside the box and have conversations across the departments. I feel that is a great skill of mine and one that will serve me well in this role over the next four years.’
Stephenson said she will look to obtain feedback in terms are what they need from the government and where improvements can be made to support the sector.
