Coke Games Needs Reviewing
The Fiji Secondary Schools Athletics Coca-Cola Games is getting bigger, brighter and longer in terms of the number of school days set aside to accommodate the traditional first term secondary schools sports activity. This year the Cokes has expanded to three school days – Thursday, April 27 to Saturday, April 29.
Last year over two days 130 schools took part. There were more than 300 officials and more than 2300 athletes taking part in 126 events.
This is the 44th year since the Coke Games has made the then National Stadium (now HFC Bank Stadium) its base for the world’s biggest secondary schools athletics event – nothing has changed considering the rippling effect. In terms of continuity, how many of the athletes that have come through the system are listed on record for development, to salvage the dire situation athletics in Fiji is in how.
When was the last time we bagged many medals at regional level, how many athletes are training in developed countries right now?
How can we better our medal haul at regional level or performance at international level.
While we can applaud the Cokes as a spring board for other school competitions like rugby union, rugby league, football, netball, basketball, hockey, volleyball and swimming to mention some, why aren’t
we finishing in the top three at the Pacific Games?
Continuity
Sprint king Banuve Tabakaucoro has hung his spikes but there is a vacuum at where he had left.
The Marist Old Boy is a good disciple for athletics - he did not wander away from the tracks although he also plays sevens rugby.
All four of his Cokes records (intermediate and senior boys 100 and 200 metres) set way back in 2009 and 2011 are still standing.
The Bau Bullet was clocking 10.71 seconds in 2009; two years later he was on 10.43 seconds. In the 200m his intermediate record is 21.70 sec and senior boys is 21.04sec.
The national record holder and
South Pacific sprint champion’s personal best in 100m is 10.20sec and for 200m is 20.53 sec.
For comparison sakes, the Australian men 100m record held by Paul Narracott is 9.9sec, 200m is held by Peter Norman at 20.06 sec. In New Zealand 100m record is held by Edward Osei-Nketia at 10.8sec and 200m held by Joseph Millar on 20.37sec.
The world record is held by Jamaican Usain Bold, 9.58sec in the 100m and 19.19 sec in the 200m.
Athletics Fiji must set out a workable continuity plan to keep athletes engaged beyond the Pacific Games.
Zone meet
17 zones have had their competition, the Maritime zone will hold theirs on Tuesday, April 25 at the Laucala tracks.
Suva Grammar roadrunner Semesa Caginivalu so far has clocked the best senior boys 100m when he won the Suva Zone 2 blue ribbon last Friday in 10.59 sec.
It is about time such performance is captured and followed through. Caginivalu is coached by one of Fiji’s former sprinters Jone Delai so it should not be too difficult to enter his particulars onto the database and monitor his performance. Otherwise with the lucrative offers out there Caginivalu could be heading down another road soon.
Review
The number of days and number of schools in some of the zones must to be reviewed. First up are the two Suva zones, Suva 1 now has 22 schools with the inclusion of Christian Mission Fellowship College while Suva 2 has 13 schools. Suva 1 is held over two days while Suva 2 only one day. Why can’t the two zones have the 35 schools shared between them and condense competition to one and half days. Lomaiviti zone has four schools – Delana Methodist High, Gau Secondary, Levuka Public and St Johns College. Koro High does not take part. Early this month three schools took part in the Lomaiviti zone and it was over two days. How logical is this?
Tailevu zone is another with seven schools travelling all the way from Tailevu North over two days to compete in Suva. Travelling time takes four hours each day and to be travelling that far costs money and time.
Students lose out in this arrangement. Can the Ministry step in and do something to improve this?
Have the Games administrators and facilitators ever taken into consideration the number of athletes taking part against the number of athletes that come through as helpers and spectators. How do students benefit from this?
There must be standard qualifying times (track events) and distances (for throws and jumps) to identify the best athletes right from their respective inter-house competitions.
QuALIfiCAtION
Every athlete must meet the qualifying standard to be in the zone meet and then another qualifying standard to be in the Cokes.
This will control the number of student movements. Student behaviour in public is an issue now. Police have been called in to assist security guards monitor students at the HFC Bank Stadium the past days.
Over packed buses, student passengers in school uniform stomping inside the buses with their flags must be controlled.
Unless there are qualifying standards then all the inter-school zones can be condensed to one day; the zone meets can be held on a Saturday and not a school day.
The same can go for the Cokes – to be condensed to one and half days. Competition on Day One to start at 8am up to 8pm and the second day rounding off at 2pm. Everyone has time to travel back home.
Workload
Use student teachers as officials rather than occupying service teachers as part of their training at the Cokes to ease workload on teachers.
Maybe with the easing of workload on teachers for extra-curricular activities, students’ academic performance can also improve.
The whole process must be reviewed, opportunities for improvements need to identified to justify the one day set aside for school inter-house, one day for inter-schools (school zone) and one and a half days for Cokes.
Time spent on preparations, money spent on sports uniforms, merchandise, travelling, food, accommodation, first aid kits, coaches’ salary need to be justified. If other sports like netball, rugby union, rugby league, volleyball can hold their competitions after school and on weekends why can’t athletics?
Cokes administrators, Athletics Fiji and the Ministry responsible need to dialogue to address issues and come out with positive outcomes.