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Six-day pre-Worlds camp set for August 18-23
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
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JAMAICA'S pre-World Championships camp for the IAAF's biennial global meet will commence next week Thursday in the South Korean city of Gyeonasan and will last six days until August 23 when the athletes will move into the games village in Daegu.
Grace Jackson, the first vice-president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) and the head of delegation to the nine-day event (August 27th to September 4th), told the Observer yesterday they were trying their best "to ensure everything was in place for the comfort of the athletes".
The Jamaican team is expected to be announced next week following the August 15 deadline to submit entries to the IAAF.
Jackson, an Olympic silver medallist in the 200m in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, said: "We are trying to do our best to make sure everyone is happy as that would be in the best interest of all concerned; happy athletes will perform better."
She said the JAAA had contacted the coaches of both top clubs here in Jamaica, MVP and Racers "as well as the other elite and non-elite athletes" to get an idea of what they were looking for at the camps to make things better for the athletes.
Jackson said she was "not expecting any major problems" such as the ones that affected pre-competition camps before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the IAAF World Championships a year later when a number of athletes from MVP refused to take part in the camp.
"Athletes get edgy as it gets closer to competition," she said. "They are individuals and they have their individual competition to worry about and the least little thing gets magnified, but we want to pre-empt these and make sure they are comfortable."
Meanwhile, Maurice Wilson, who was named head coach for the Jamaican team, said he supports the idea of the camp, "but we have to work with the individual coaches".
Wilson, who was speaking to the Observer yesterday, also said while Jamaica could not have an extended camp as some other countries were allowed to do, "the pre-competition camp is absolutely necessary, especially for the sprint relays".
"There must be a system where members of the relays pool can meet to work out the running order and get familiar with each other," he pointed out.
While the elite athletes, he said, would have systems in place, not every member of the team had that and the JAAA must give each athlete the chance to perform at their optimum, hence the benefits of having the camp.
Jackson said an organisation called the International Youth Fellowship along with the hosts of the village had been working along with the JAAA to ensure that all was in place for the camp and she described the process so far as "absolutely fabulous".
Representatives from IYF, she said, had met with the JAAA here in Jamaica and had offices in Daegu where they have been working from.
The Observer learnt that the site was selected from last year following an inspection of various sites.
Earlier this year there were doubts surrounding the camp, but it was later confirmed that the camp would be held.
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Tweet
JAMAICA'S pre-World Championships camp for the IAAF's biennial global meet will commence next week Thursday in the South Korean city of Gyeonasan and will last six days until August 23 when the athletes will move into the games village in Daegu.
Grace Jackson, the first vice-president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) and the head of delegation to the nine-day event (August 27th to September 4th), told the Observer yesterday they were trying their best "to ensure everything was in place for the comfort of the athletes".
The Jamaican team is expected to be announced next week following the August 15 deadline to submit entries to the IAAF.
Jackson, an Olympic silver medallist in the 200m in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, said: "We are trying to do our best to make sure everyone is happy as that would be in the best interest of all concerned; happy athletes will perform better."
She said the JAAA had contacted the coaches of both top clubs here in Jamaica, MVP and Racers "as well as the other elite and non-elite athletes" to get an idea of what they were looking for at the camps to make things better for the athletes.
Jackson said she was "not expecting any major problems" such as the ones that affected pre-competition camps before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the IAAF World Championships a year later when a number of athletes from MVP refused to take part in the camp.
"Athletes get edgy as it gets closer to competition," she said. "They are individuals and they have their individual competition to worry about and the least little thing gets magnified, but we want to pre-empt these and make sure they are comfortable."
Meanwhile, Maurice Wilson, who was named head coach for the Jamaican team, said he supports the idea of the camp, "but we have to work with the individual coaches".
Wilson, who was speaking to the Observer yesterday, also said while Jamaica could not have an extended camp as some other countries were allowed to do, "the pre-competition camp is absolutely necessary, especially for the sprint relays".
"There must be a system where members of the relays pool can meet to work out the running order and get familiar with each other," he pointed out.
While the elite athletes, he said, would have systems in place, not every member of the team had that and the JAAA must give each athlete the chance to perform at their optimum, hence the benefits of having the camp.
Jackson said an organisation called the International Youth Fellowship along with the hosts of the village had been working along with the JAAA to ensure that all was in place for the camp and she described the process so far as "absolutely fabulous".
Representatives from IYF, she said, had met with the JAAA here in Jamaica and had offices in Daegu where they have been working from.
The Observer learnt that the site was selected from last year following an inspection of various sites.
Earlier this year there were doubts surrounding the camp, but it was later confirmed that the camp would be held.
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