The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The region’s top junior track and field meet, the 49th edition of the CARIFTA Games (Caribbean Free Trade Association), has now been postponed until August 13-15 in Hamilton, Bermuda.

It was one year ago when the announcement came at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s National High School Track and Field Championships at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium that the event had to be halted and postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic and the the domino effect began with the postponement and cancellation of all sporting events not only in the Bahamas, but around the world.

One of those events affected last year was the CARIFTA Games, which was postponed for the first time since it was first instituted in 1972 by Austin Sealy, the then president of the Amateur Athletic Association of Barbados.

Yesterday, Mike Sands, president of the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC), the regional governing body, revealed that while they are preparing for the “worst-case scenario,” they had to postpone the games again.

In a joint meeting on zoom with all of the stakeholders, including Donna Raynor, the president of the Local Organising Committee for Bermuda, Sands said after postponing the customary Easter holiday weekend sporting extravaganza to the weekend of July 2-4, they have now settled on August 13-15.

The new date in August will allow the games to take place on the heels of the postponed 2020 Olympic Games, which is now set for July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo, Japan, and just before the World Athletics Under-20 Championships, scheduled for August 17-22 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the 2021 Junior Pan American Games September 9-19 in Cali, Colombia.

While Sands praised the coaches for the work that they have been doing to produce athletes who have excelled on the world stage, he recommended that they continue to work through the COVID-19 environment.

“This is indeed a challenging time for all of us and the athletes and so what now has to happen is the coaches, we are relying on them more heavily to create the incentives (for the athletes),” he said. “I would strongly recommend that the coaches provide some pep talks from certain types of persons within their field to keep their athletes motivated because, at the end of the day, we intend to have CARIFTA and later on, there’s the World Juniors and the Jr Pan American Games.”

Sands said it’s imperative for the coaches and the administrators to continue to keep the athletes informed of the changes so as they will not have a mental breakdown as they try to continue their trek towards the games.

COVID-19, according to Sands, has brought the NACAC family closer together and they have been able to stay in communication virtually to ensure that the meet comes off.

One suggestion, as presented by Turks and Caicos AAA president Edith Skippings, is for the various associations to provide a meet during the Easter holiday weekend for the athletes to compete in since the CARIFTA Games have been postponed from that date.

As it pertains to the hosting of the games, Raynor said they are still working on the logistics as to the quota of athletes, officials, and media personnel they will be able to accommodate at the games.

She did note that the games will be held without any fanfare and that testing will be provided for athletes and officials on a daily basis, as outlined in their games manifesto, which is currently being upgraded.

Dr Michael Serralta, who hails from Puerto Rico as NACAC’s competition director, said they want to try to keep the sport alive and hope for the best in rescheduling the games again.

“Things happen for a purpose and we went through a whole scenario of putting on a possible date,” Serralta said. “We had about seven dates that we went through and we started scratching out because of certain scenarios.”

In consultation with World Athletics, the governing body for the sport of track and field, Serralta said they have been given the green light to proceed with the games and they are working to ensure that the best environment is provided for all of the participants.

While there were questions poised from the media, Bahamian Norbert Elliott, the head track and field coach at Purdue University, chimed in from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Indoor Championships where he has a few athletes, including triple jumper Tamar Greene, competing this weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

“As a collegiate coach, we are going through the same thing,” said Elliott, as he commended NACAC for the tremendous work they are doing in the region.

“I’m hopeful that the American coaches will have a chance to go to Bermuda to continue the recruitment of some of the world’s best athletes. I like what I heard from Mrs Donna Raynor in regard to getting the coronavirus vaccine and I know we as coaches have been tested three-four times a week and we hope that they can get into the stadium to continue to recruit some of the world’s best junior athletes.”

Sands assured Elliott that NACAC and Bermuda LOC have done their best to ensure that the collegiate coaches would be given all of the necessary concessions to carry out their duties, just as they will for all other relevant parties concerned.

With the 49th CARIFTA Games just taking place this year, the 50th celebrations will be pushed back to 2022 in Bridgetown, Barbados, where it originated in 1972.