By Neto Baptiste
Former national athlete and head coach of the country’s track and field team to the 2024 Carifta Games in Grenada, Teddy Daley, went from infuriated to thankful within a short period of time after learning that the Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA) has been approved for a loan from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) that would ensure the country’s participation in the March 30 to April 1 games.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Daley publicly thanked head of the NOC, EP Chet Greene, who sent a text indicating that $40,000 had been approved towards airfare and accommodation.
“I did say to you earlier that we reached out to the NOC and we were hoping for them to come through, so if the President is saying that, then I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr President of the NOC, Mr Greene. Thank you very much because I didn’t know what we were going to tell our athletes otherwise,” he said.
Earlier, Daley revealed that the 17-member team may miss the annual games as government was yet to make available any funds for the purchasing of tickets or accommodation despite the association having submitted a budget “months ago”.
“All the other governments in the Caribbean have come to the aid of their Carifta teams and everybody knows they are going. The only country that don’t know if they are going is Antigua. I spoke to the Minister of Sports about that during inter-schools, and let us just take a step back because we submitted our budget to the Athletes Development Assistance Review Panel (ADARP), and I was told that the amount we requested was reduced. Why was it reduced? I don’t know, but even the reduced amount was not forthcoming,” the coach said.
Explaining that the association’s budget of $88,000 that had been submitted to ADARP for approval had been initially cut to $66,000 and then further reduced to $40,000 by the Ministry of Sports, Daley went on to make a plea for additional assistance.
“I am just appealing to corporate Antigua, the citizens or whosoever can come forward and help, to come forward and help us please because these children worked so hard, and now the time has come, they are being let down. I can’t really take this, I am feeling sick. I don’t really call-in and say these things, but I am feeling sick and tired. It can’t make any sense, and when we want our young people, we talk about them in all sorts of ways when they do something wrong, but when they do something positive are we encouraging them? No, we are not,” he said.
The official clarified that the budget was reduced due to the uncertainty, at the time, in the number of athletes that would make the trip.
Squad: Tyra Fenton, Zonique Charles, Gerilin Barnes, Maliek Francis, Geolyna Dowdye, La’Nica Locker, Hannah Charles, Alyssa Dyett, Ajani Daley, Nicardo Clarke, Kasiya Daley, Osei Gardner, Kevon Campbell, Caandre Pascal, Dwayne Fleming, Cleon Joseph and Nicholas Simpson.