By Neto Baptiste
The YASCO Sports Complex, the country’s lone track and field facility, could have fully functional bathroom facilities by January next year, while talks are ongoing with a US-based company regarding the erecting of spectator stands.
This is according to Chair of the YASCO Committee, Cleofoster Harris, who said the body has held talks with Sturdisteel, an industry-leading fabricator of engineered seating solutions based in Waco, Texas, over the possible erecting of seating at the venue.
“First of all, the bathrooms will be dealt with, and we’re looking to get that done before the new season starts [in January] and then we go into the next phase which is getting the guys from Sturdisteel to come down to look at the layout of the stands and then get that started or implemented,” he said.
In March of 2021, a five-member committee, comprising individuals from the National Olympic Committee, the athletics association and the ministry of sports, was put in place to govern the use and maintenance of the YASCO Sports Complex.
Secretary General of the NOC, Cliff Williams, President of the athletics association, Everton ‘Mano’ Cornelius, Director of Sports Heather Samuel-Daley and president of the basketball association and a budding politician, Michael Freeland are the other members of the committee.
Asked when last the committee met to discuss plans for the facility, Harris said they ‘had a discussion’ months ago.
“We had a conversation back in June about YASCO because it is something we really need to put in place because there is a layout and an earmarked budget, and it’s a matter of now just getting the funding so we are trying to get or seek funding from outside [of Antigua] to get YASCO to where it should be, so we have been working in the background to try and get things kick-started. This has been backend conversations, back and forth with the drawings, back and forth with the architects, so there has been a lot of backend conversations we’re having,” the committee Chair said.
Since the laying of a new certified surface at the track in 2021, there has been no significant structural improvements at the facility with a lack of changing and bathroom facilities of main concern.
