Do we need to compete at CARIFTA Games?
THE EDITOR, Sir:
IMUST applaud the decision of Hydel High’s head coach, Mr Corey Bennett, for protecting his charges and not allowing his top athletes to compete at this year’s CARIFTA trials for fear of overwork.
As coach Bennett has pointed out, the CARIFTA trials are being held just a few days after a very hectic Boys and Girls’ Championships, and right after CARIFTA, many schools will be selecting their teams for the Penn Relays, and some students have to prepare for meets even beyond that time.
I don’t think any other country in the Caribbean has the type of hectic track season that we do, hence CARIFTA is a huge event for these countries. We get more excitement and better coverage out of Champs than we do from CARIFTA. Half the time we don’t even get a live feed from these games to follow our athletes.
We have won the CARIFTA Games for 34 straight years, winning upwards of over 70 medals in recent stagings, often dozens of medals more than our nearest rivals, hence we have nothing else to prove where the CARIFTA Games are concerned, so do we really need to participate every year?
BIENNIAL PARTICIPATION
It is no secret that Jamaica has arguably the deepest pool of athletes in the Caribbean at the junior level, but our athletes are kept quite busy once the track and field season gets under way, and while the calls have come for all to be mindful of the future of our young athletes, I think the time has come for us to assess our participation in the CARIFTA Games.
Based on my understanding, the CARIFTA Games were designed to enhance relations among countries of the Caribbean, so I’m not saying we shouldn’t participate in the Games, but why not make our participation a biennial event, especially when there may be scheduling problems? If it is that we have to participate each year, why not kill two birds with one stone by using Champs as trials for CARIFTA?
In the grand scheme of things, I think CARIFTA is only a minor part of our track-and-field calendar. I think, like our athletes, our participation in this meet should be carefully managed.
NARDIA GRANT nardiaj@gmail.com