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Pre-World Champs camp in jeopardy
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011
Aris
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
There is a real possibility that the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) may have to scrap its customary five-day pre-competition camp ahead of the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, because of an inability to secure enough suitable rooms for athletes and team officials in the Asian city.
Two months of constant searching and dialogue with officials in Daegu has yielded little to no results for the JAAA, and president Howard Aris admitted to The Gleaner late yesterday that things are not looking good, with the championships now just over two months away.
"As is customary, we have been trying to identify a suitable location for our pre-competition camp in Daegu. We have been in touch with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) there and they have been trying their best to find not just a training site, which is the easiest part because there are tracks; but the difficulty seems to be that there is a shortage of suitable rooms in the city of Daegu," Aris noted.
"Once we recognise that we definitely cannot get any accommodation we will just have to scrap it (camp). The later it gets we feel the more difficult it will get to confirm rooms. It doesn't look good for us but we have not given up, the LOC has been in regular contact with us and we are hoping for the best," Aris added.
The JAAA was made aware that 30 rooms would be made available to them for the camp six weeks ago, but has since been told that those rooms will no longer be vacant by the time the Jamaican team gets into Daegu.
Not good
"This is not good for us because we would have liked to have this matter settled earlier but that has not happened," Aris lamented, before adding that if nothing changes in the very near future, the Jamaican delegation will be forced to move straight into the Athletes' Village, when that opens a week or so before the start of competition on August 27.
Aris went on to underscore the value of having a team camp before going into major championships like the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the Olympic Games, and explained why the time spent in the Athletes' Village ahead of competition can never act as a substitute.
"Well, you cannot use the (Athletes') Village as a camp because you are in a different atmosphere, you are around other athletes from other countries and the unity and camaraderie that you will get at a camp is difficult to replicate," Aris pointed out.
The pre-competition camp has been a point of contention in the past, with the lead-ups to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 IAAF in Athletics being marred due to the non-participation of several members of the MVP Track Club.
JAAA rules clearly state that such camps are mandatory for participation at these meets, and some industry insiders were beginning to whisper discontent with the delay in securing details for this year's camp.
"There is no way a group can say that there will be a mandatory camp when at this point they do not know where the camp will be held, they don't know the dates of the camp and they want to put on the entry form that it is mandatory, that makes little sense. Since it's a mandatory camp, then three or six months ago they should have all the details in place so that those who need to make plans and arrangements for athletes will be in a position to do so," said one official.
Not an issue, says Aris.
"Athletes would have to go to Asia and make sure that they are in the same time zone to acclimatise early, so those plans would have had to be made whether by the individual clubs or by the JAAA," Aris said.
Published: Wednesday | June 8, 2011
Aris
André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter
There is a real possibility that the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) may have to scrap its customary five-day pre-competition camp ahead of the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, because of an inability to secure enough suitable rooms for athletes and team officials in the Asian city.
Two months of constant searching and dialogue with officials in Daegu has yielded little to no results for the JAAA, and president Howard Aris admitted to The Gleaner late yesterday that things are not looking good, with the championships now just over two months away.
"As is customary, we have been trying to identify a suitable location for our pre-competition camp in Daegu. We have been in touch with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) there and they have been trying their best to find not just a training site, which is the easiest part because there are tracks; but the difficulty seems to be that there is a shortage of suitable rooms in the city of Daegu," Aris noted.
"Once we recognise that we definitely cannot get any accommodation we will just have to scrap it (camp). The later it gets we feel the more difficult it will get to confirm rooms. It doesn't look good for us but we have not given up, the LOC has been in regular contact with us and we are hoping for the best," Aris added.
The JAAA was made aware that 30 rooms would be made available to them for the camp six weeks ago, but has since been told that those rooms will no longer be vacant by the time the Jamaican team gets into Daegu.
Not good
"This is not good for us because we would have liked to have this matter settled earlier but that has not happened," Aris lamented, before adding that if nothing changes in the very near future, the Jamaican delegation will be forced to move straight into the Athletes' Village, when that opens a week or so before the start of competition on August 27.
Aris went on to underscore the value of having a team camp before going into major championships like the IAAF World Championships in Athletics and the Olympic Games, and explained why the time spent in the Athletes' Village ahead of competition can never act as a substitute.
"Well, you cannot use the (Athletes') Village as a camp because you are in a different atmosphere, you are around other athletes from other countries and the unity and camaraderie that you will get at a camp is difficult to replicate," Aris pointed out.
The pre-competition camp has been a point of contention in the past, with the lead-ups to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 IAAF in Athletics being marred due to the non-participation of several members of the MVP Track Club.
JAAA rules clearly state that such camps are mandatory for participation at these meets, and some industry insiders were beginning to whisper discontent with the delay in securing details for this year's camp.
"There is no way a group can say that there will be a mandatory camp when at this point they do not know where the camp will be held, they don't know the dates of the camp and they want to put on the entry form that it is mandatory, that makes little sense. Since it's a mandatory camp, then three or six months ago they should have all the details in place so that those who need to make plans and arrangements for athletes will be in a position to do so," said one official.
Not an issue, says Aris.
"Athletes would have to go to Asia and make sure that they are in the same time zone to acclimatise early, so those plans would have had to be made whether by the individual clubs or by the JAAA," Aris said.
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