By Neto Baptiste
The coach of the Roots Athletic Club, Oswald Baptiste, has voiced his frustration over what he says is “poor communication” by the Antigua and Barbuda Athletic Association (ABAA) regarding a ‘’development meet” scheduled for January 5 at the YASCO Sports Complex.
Baptiste, who called in to the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, said there is no clear indication as to whether or not the meet will go ahead on Sunday, or whether the recognized timing system will be utilized.
“At this present moment, we cannot hear anything from the president [Everton Cornelius], we just keep hearing from Jamille [Nelson] but Jamille is not the head so Jamille needs to step back and let the head take the pressure. Also, we don’t have a timing system at this present moment to be at the finish line so what is the use that we are going to have athletes running and hand-timed which is not recognized because no one is there to operate it,” he said.
The development meet, utilised as a measuring board by coaches to assess the progress of athletes at key points during the season, will be the first for the year and comes just before the start of the track and field season.
Baptiste said the uncertainty surrounding the meet puts athletes at a disadvantage.
“All of the athletes leaving from within the countryside to come and prepare. They are putting in their time, they practice every day and now the time comes for us to have our first development meet, there is nothing. I am very disappointed and I am very angry about it because we’ve worked together to get these athletes there and now we want to see what is happening with our athletes to know what is our percentage within our training and we cannot find no way to get that done,” he said.
The coach labelled a move by the administration to call a meeting just days ahead of the scheduled meet as “totally out of order”.
“From what I am reading from a WhatsApp that the president wants to sit in on a meeting this afternoon [Thursday] at 5pm with coaches and that is totally out of order and it’s short notice. The president needs to give the date for the election and let [the person] who wins the election carry athletics to another level if they can,” Baptiste said.
The electronic system allows times registered by athletes to be recognised by the sport’s international governing body, World Athletics.
