Casey: Pay Attention To National Athletes

Coach of the country’s team to the recent IAAF World Championships in London, Carl Casey said the country’s athletes have suffered from a combination of neglect and poor administration for far too long.
Speaking on the team’s return from London where injuries forced the country’s 4X100 meters relay team to pull out of the games, Casey said the athletes are “frustrated” over a number of reoccurring practices and urged the powers that be to take a serious look at understanding and fixing the problems plaguing the sport and athletes.
“We need to come up with a plan and take care of these athletes because there are problems with the athletes and you might hear differently but they’re not being treated properly. We need to sit down and come up with a plan where we can monitor these athletes because it is not a wide pool,” he said.
“We’ve been at this since 1976 and when you look around, almost every Caribbean country has a kit sponsor and we, for some reason, cannot come up with a proper uniform and I always believe that people should know you by how you look and your identification [via uniform] but it’s just not happening,” he added.
The coach, himself a former athlete, also highlighted the need for the country’s lone track & field facility to be brought up to standard with a new track and other amenities. The track at YASCO Sports Complex, he said, is doing more harm than good.
“Chevaughn Walsh had to train for six weeks in Antigua on that track before the World Championships and hence, some injuries so we have to really sit down and see where we really want to go because track & field is moving ahead of us and we have been at this too long. Even the financial part of it the athletes need support because athletics is a very expensive sport,” Casey said.
The coach, however, warned that the athletes must also deliver on the track, which will strengthen their ability to demand more from both government and sporting administrators.
“The best answer to that is go out and perform and when you go out and perform you have something to bargain with but sometimes the situation is that things happen and you can’t do anything about it but I think this current crop of athletes have tried their best, have done well for Antigua & Barbuda but have reached a breaking point where enough is enough,” he said.
Sprinter Cejhae Greene was the only athlete of note at the World Championships, reaching the semifinals of the 100 meters sprint.
Injuries to Greene and Richard Richardson, however, forced the team to pull out of the 4X100 meters relay.