SPORT in Bermuda needs to undergo a total re-evaluation, said Opposition Leader and professional golfer Kim Swan this week.

His comments come on the heels of much public anger at the performance of Bermuda's 20/20 cricket team, the women's team who are in South Africa trying to qualify for the Cricket World Cup and also the criticism Bermuda's football team received after they could only hold lowly Cayman Islands to a 1-1 draw in the first round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Although Swan did not want to direct any criticism at any sportsperson or team, he said: "We need a total re-evaluation of sport in Bermuda as it relates to where you are competing and at what level we should be competing at.

"We have to be realistic ¿ we play amateur sports here. We have to be realistic of where we are at. You can't take an athlete that plays part-time and make him or her a professional. It is a different mindset."

Late last year Swan, who is the only Bermudian to play on the European Tour when he competed there in the early 1980s, was looking to qualify for the Senior European Tour but he had to postpone those plans when the election was called. And then he was named Opposition Leader earlier this year and has put those European plans on hold. (See Page 1).

Swan said it makes no sense trying to compare professional athletes with amateur ones.

"A pro looks at sports differently than an amateur ¿ you always should know what level you should be competing at ¿ and whether you should be competing at an amateur level or professional level.

"If you are an amateur team and you go up against a team that has six or seven professionals then you may get lucky one time but I guarantee you that day in and day out they are going to eat you for lunch. Professional sportsmen are like sharks ¿ they can smell when a person is not confident and not ready or not up to standard.

"But there is nothing wrong with competing at a level that you are best equipped to compete at. The worst thing is to be competing at a level that you are not prepared for. In sports you have to be confident of where you are. We need to reassess where we are in sport and we need to do it comprehensively."

And Swan said he would like to see former and current Bermuda professionals brought in to advise what direction sport in Bermuda should take.

"We need to get the advise and counsel of people like Clyde Best, Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, Randy Horton, Khano Smith and David Bascome along with David Hemp. We should really use those people because they have been professionals and some still are playing. We should be using them. They know the difference between a professional an amateur. A professional athlete will tell you that they will risk everything they have to succeed. A professional athlete knows that you cannot be stuck in the middle of the road saying 'I can half do this'.

"The rest of athletes in Bermuda are amateurs and I mean no disrespect saying that. So it is incumbent on those who oversee our sport to realise what level we should be competing at.

"We have had some great sportsmen and women and they need to come in and advise us. We need to capture those minds. And not just to be critical but to give good advice of where we need to go. We need to bring those people together and we need to take a fresh look at sport in Bermuda."

Many in Bermuda have complained that all the money goes into football and cricket and Swan said a new approach is needed.

"The money put into sport needs to benefit the many and not the few. If you put the money into the many you will always have exceptional people who will come out of that. When you put it all in the few then you are not setting up programmes to benefit society's needs.

"The difference between sports now and 20 years ago has changed. When I was growing up the choices were pretty much cricket and football and then golf emerged for me in the 1970s and tennis start to blossom and become more open. Those sports back in the 50s and 60 were restricted. And as sports have opened up children have a great deal of choice now."

And because of that choice many sports have found they do not have the numbers that they traditionally once did.

"Things are spread thinner now for some sports," he said adding that other sports have seen an increase in participation.

"Look at T-ball. Lots of kids are playing that and look at our sailing programme. More and more kids are sailing today and one of the reasons is that it is more inclusive than it was many years ago.

"A lot of people in Bermuda talk to me about sports because they know that is my profession. And there are many people who feel that the love (money) needs to be spread around a bit more. Track and field is an example of a sport that has not only provided a great deal of success among Bermuda athletes but also provides educational opportunities for our youth. There are far more opportunities for our youth to get scholarships to college with track and field than there are with other sports."

And Swan wants to see more sports in school. "We should not just focus on the elite athlete. We need to see how sport is functioning in school. I do not think they play the amount of sport today in school compared to when I was young.

"Sport has really helped and shaped me. When the formalised educational system was not working for me it was sport that kept me in touch with school. We need to look at ways we can make sport work for children."

Swan, who lost over 50 pounds a few years ago when he realised his weight was out of control, said that Bermuda as a whole needs to get fitter.

"We need to find a balance and make sure that physical fitness is part of our lives. It is actually an important aspect that is missing in many Bermudians' lives. As a country we are not as fit as we should be and we are not as recreationally oriented as I think we should be.

"We need to own up to the fact that we have a lot of big and overweight people. And we need to start getting people healthy right from pre-school and primary school. We need to intergrate a greater fitness routine and recreational routine into our lives. A fit mind is a healthy mind. A fit body allows the mind to function better."