Interview with new National Sports Council chief executive Marc Arrisol |08 February 2023
MARC ARRISOL … NSC chief executive
‘Right practice and good work ethics should be instilled within the NSC’
Well known for his leadership within the educational field, former head teacher of the Mont Fleuri secondary school, Marc Arrisol, now has the task of leading the National Sports Council after being appointed into the post of chief executive on January 1, replacing Jean Larue who had been in the seat since August 1, 2018.
Still in his thirties and full of optimism, the charismatic leader has not been so lucky, inheriting a considerable load, in a time where local sports are all over the place, not only due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but mostly to poor management on behalf of several sports federations and associations.
Sorting out the disarray within the structure of the National Sports Council (NSC) is also a huge challenge ahead for Mr Arrisol, most commonly known as ‘Sir Marc’ due to his long years in the local education system.
As a leader, Mr Arrisol believes that the headquarters, which is the heart of any organisation, should be well and in working order for the other sections or branches to function properly and effectively.
In line with that, his main priority is to sort out the various issues within the NSC, bringing the staff within all ranks to work together towards a common goal, which is to resuscitate local sports.
With the 11th Indian Ocean Islands Games scheduled to take place in Madagascar fast approaching (from August 23 to September 3), Mr Arrisol’s task as the head of the local sports’ governing body will not come easy during the coming months, necessitating prompt and effective decisions, especially with the council’s budget already allocated, prior to his appointment.
Coming from a completely different field, Mr Arrisol firmly believes that a leader remains a leader, wherever he or she is posted, as long as leadership skills are used appropriately to the benefit of the organisation.
Mr Arrisol holds a Bachelor’s degree in secondary Education, majoring in social science, along with a Master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand.
He started his career as a Geography teacher and has held several leadership positions in education.
After six weeks in office, Mr Arrisol, a firm believer, agreed to meet up with Sports NATION to share his vision for the organisation and also to give a general idea on future important decisions to be taken in order to steer local sports back on the right track.
Sports NATION: What is your mission as the new head of the organisation?
Mr Arrisol: To be honest, I have not been involved with sports that much, but however, what I know is that I have not heard a lot of good things about local sports, mainly complaints.
I am not here to perform miracles, but I need to start somewhere, prioritising things, depending on urgency, since there are a lot of pertinent issues to deal with.
I started with staff meetings sharing my vision which is to bring local sports to the next level, through a performance-based approach.
We cannot keep on dancing to the old tune, year in, year out. Instead, we should be doing things differently to achieve different and better results.
It is important to get rid of the ‘this is how we do things here’ attitude which has been the ethos of the organisation for a long time, with a lot of staff being comfortable within their ‘rigid’ mindset.
There is also the issue of ‘fallout’ among employees within different departments, and this tends to pull the organisation apart, instead of pushing it forward.
As a people’s person, I greet everyone when entering the office in the morning, and to my greatest astonishment, some people seem to be confused by the gesture, simply because they are not used to it.
This is the kind of mind-set that we should get rid of, immediately.
As a leader, I should be approachable, while teambuilding is also a crucial element in the successful running of an organisation.
Right practice and good work ethics should be instilled within the National Sports Council first, and only then, the sporting federations and associations can follow.
The culture of togetherness and proper work ethics is the main priority at the moment, while we must also review several policies in terms of administration and leadership.
Another approach is to have staff meetings without the presence of supervisors so that they can freely voice out issues affecting their work, without any intimidation.
I thank and congratulate all my predecessors for their contributions, while we take it from here towards the transformation of local sports.
Sports NATION: You are known to be an administrative rather than an ‘on-the-field person’. How will you manage that in your new post?
Mr Arrisol: I see this as an opportunity to venture into something else, taking my leadership skills to another level. During my training, the lecturer always taught us that our leadership skills will always remain, while we have to incorporate them in different contexts, and this time I am bringing them into the sports field, aiming at a transformation in local sports.
Sports NATION: What do you consider as the most challenging aspects of the job?
Mr Arrisol: Setting up a performance-based structure remains equally crucial in the running of the organisation, thus the progression of sports, both locally and at international level through proper evidence and appropriate spending.
The culture of just spending money without evidence will no longer exist, while proof through proper research, medical and sports science will be set up.
Before investing in someone who practices, let us say, long-jump, we need to assess the person, in terms of genetics to see if the discipline suits him, or her before investing, and this is where the element of sports science comes in.
Scientific evidence will definitely help us to invest in the right direction, supported by data-driven decisions.
Sports NATION: How would local sports evolve over the coming years under your leadership?
Mr Arrisol: Professionalism in sports and sports-related profession is also something I firmly believe in, and I feel that we need to boost the level of the professionals involved.
I am bringing leadership to the table, and I will need all the expertise of the professionals in the field in order to succeed.
It is similar to when I was in the education system, where I had eight departments under my responsibility, with all of them having experts in the respective subjects.
As the chief executive greatly relies on the expertise of professionals in the field, it is important that they are well-trained and competent in their respective areas.
There should be no finger pointing, degrading, or blaming anyone. I have noticed that it was the norm for someone who was active in sports, or had achieved good results at higher level to be given posts within the organisation.
This is something which needs to stop as we want to move forward and need professionals to bring in ideas on how to properly, and professionally evolve.
We need certified personnel in order to beef up our capacity in the area of sports science.
On the other hand, we cannot just get rid of everyone who does not hold any qualification, but we need to find ways to upgrade their abilities.
I have been linking with the University of Seychelles (UniSey) and The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI) for possibilities of upgrading the level of our staff, all with the aim of having more professionals within the organisation. Of course, this is a long-term project.
We are also initiating job shadowing, whereby local staff can go overseas on exchange programmes and observe how the work is being carried at other organisations, thus gathering ideas on how they can incorporate it within the local context.
Another option is to go back to the School of Advance Level Studies (Sals) and promote sports-related professions, creating awareness on the different prospects within the field.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is not an option.
We have been blessed in the past, excelling at overseas competitions, but we need new ways and approaches to plan and know in advance that we will do well.
We need to invest tax-payers’ money in a good way, instead of financing for holidays.
We also need to look at ways to empower and promote sporting federations and associations since they are the backbone of local sports.
This will be through proper training of the executive committees, which, in turn, will pass on the knowledge to clubs and athletes, thus boosting the level of performance and sports as a whole.
Sports NATION: Do you have any updates on the proposed projects for the different sports facilities and complex?
Mr Arrisol: The main target at the moment is the quest for a first Olympic medal which has been the main topic for a while now, and to achieve this, we need to invest in our facilities.
We cannot expect our athletes to train on a poorly-maintained surface track, and expect them to bring medals home. Training programmes and sessions should be carried out in proper areas if we want to match up to the Olympic level.
In that line, there is still a lot to be done, in terms of fixing, upgrading and maintaining the local facilities. Like I said, the budget was already allocated when I joined the organisation, and, especially with the Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) coming up, proper spending will be a crucial element this year.
With most of the facilities, mostly at district level, being transferred from the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs to the NSC, the work is now doubled, in terms of responsibility and maintenance.
Sports NATION: There have been mixed feelings regarding the Sports Awards ceremony for last year which did not take place. How would you comment on that?
Mr Arrisol: We acknowledge that last year the field was not level for every sporting discipline, but we must however recognise the efforts of those who were active.
It will be not be at the same level as the traditional event, but we will have a ceremony – Athletes Recognition Award – to reward those who competed and excelled in 2022.
Compiled by Roland Duval