By Neto Baptiste
As the story regarding the non-registration of a number of junior athletes ahead of the World Athletics Under-20 Championships slated for August 27-31 in Lima, Peru, continues to unfold, one father has opened up about his son’s state of mind after receiving the devastating news on Wednesday night.
Hughan Daley, father of sprinter Kasiya Daley, said his son is not taking the news well and has himself, expressed anger and frustration with the news.
“It hurts me … many mornings at 4 o’clock, Kasiya would get up to go training and for this to happen at this time. I watched my 16-year-old son cry [Wednesday] when he left YASCO until he reached home. Words can’t explain how upset I am about this. When the storm was passing — the day after, they were training — so that’s how committed the kids were to get to this thing and do good and now for this. Somebody has to do better than this,” he said.
Kasiya was amongst four other athletes and their parents who were told on Wednesday that they would not be able to attend the meet due to an administrative boo-boo. Reports are that officials within the Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA) charged with finalising the registration of the athletes failed to do so before before an extended deadline of August 12.
Teddy Daley, the coach of the Power Speed Endurance (PSE) Track Club with whom all five athletes train, is also a member of the athletics association. He said that although he does not have the authority to register the athletes himself, he had made several inquiries regarding the process.
“We have been asking about this information for some time and we’ve been told [all along] that [they] haven’t seen anything as yet. My take on it is that if you know that by a certain time registration is due — because it’s not the first time — there is a pattern and you may be out of date by a few days or so, but it falls within a specific period before the event. So, I am thinking that if you didn’t see anything that you would have reached out to somebody and say ‘we are here and we haven’t seen any information regarding such so what is the latest’. I think the president should dissolve the executive and call election,” he said.
Meanwhile, Principal of the Princess Margaret School (PMS) Colin Greene warned of the mental effect the situation would have on the young athletes, some of whom were once students at his school.
“One of the things we have to bear in mind is that the consequences of these things are long term because if you take into consideration what is happening here, for some of these athletes this is their last chance — they don’t have a second chance to run at a junior meet — and these are some of the goals they have and it’s madness. Tuesday afternoon, I was up at YASCO watching them train, talking to them, we laughing and chatting about what’s going to happen when they go to Peru. They were in good spirits and to move from a high to an all-time low is not a good emotional position for any young people,” he said.
Apart from Kasiya, sprinters Ajani Daley and Geolyna Dowdye, 2022 Under-17 Carifta gold medallist in the 100 meters, Dwayne Fleming and LaNica Locker had all qualified for the event. However, Locker had reportedly opted out of going to the meet.
