THIS WEEK IN NACAC
31 October 2021
NACAC disappointed in ANOC Female Athlete of the Year Award
NACAC has expressed its disappointment with the results of the Award from the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) for Best Female Athlete at the Tokyo Olympics held earlier this year.
For the several NACAC member countries in attendance at the Awards Ceremony held on the evening of Sunday 24 October in the city oy of Heraklion on the Island of Crete, Greece, it came as a shock that Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson was not the eventual winner. Instead, Canadian swimmer,
Maggie McNeil, was awarded the top honour, having won one gold, one silver and one bronze, in the pool.
Thompson is already in the hunt for the top award at the World Athletics Awards in early December.
Even though the representatives from NACAC member countries who were at the ANOC Awards Ceremony in Crete were from National Olympic Committees and not Athletics member federations, for the majority, Elaine Thompson, winner of three gold medals, 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m, was easily the single most outstanding female at the Olympics in Tokyo.
LCA prepares for NACAC Age Group (U13 & U15) Championships
St Lucia has been busying itself with preparations for the country’s participation in the Biennial NACAC Age Group (U13 & U15) Championships, scheduled for 17-18 December 2021 in
Managua, Nicaragua.
The local governing body for the sport of athletics has commissioned the Chair of its Technical Committee, Henry Bailey, to convene two assessment meets to evaluate athletes on fitness and preparedness prior to the Championships.
St Lucian athletes will only be participating in the Heptathlon in the U15 age category. The events are 80m dash, 60m hurdles for girls (80m hurdles for boys), high jump, long jump, shot put, ball throw and 1000m for girls (1200m for boys).
The first assessment took place on Saturday October 30th, 2021 at the George Odlum Stadium, athletes took part in five (5) events, namely 1000m/1200m, 80m, high jump, ball throw and shot put.
The next assessment will be on November 26th and 27th, 2021. After the second assessment meet the final team of four athletes (2 boys/ 2 girls) will be named.
We wish our young athletes the best of luck as they attempt to make the top two spots for qualification.
The top 3 finishers after Assessment #1 were:
Boys
- Denzel Phillips (SP Survivors) -3479 points
- Milan Mitchel (Rockets Athletics) – 3200 points
- Mekhi Philip (Rockets Athletics) – 3061 points Girls
- Naya Jules (Sports Academy)- 2323 points
- Paige Anderson (Abilene) – 2068 points
- Michelle Alphonse (Sports Academy)- 2002 points
REMINDER: Special NACAC Congress 2021
Saturday 6 November 2021 is a red-letter day for the members of NACAC as the organization convenes a virtual Special Congress beginning at 10.00am
Notice of the Special Congress has generated much interest as over the past several months, NACAC has been focused on a number of initiatives that augurs well for the future of our sport. NACAC emerged from the latest edition of the Sumer Olympics with more medals in our sport than any other region. This was not the first time that this has happened. Plans are being out in place to ensure that this trend continues well into the future. Some of these will feature at the Special Congress.
The World Athletics Plan is among items at the Special Congress and will form part of World Athletics President, Lord Sebastian Coe’s 20-minute presentation to the NACAC member federations.
World Athletics and NACAC Council Member, Willie Banks, will focus briefly on what the Plan means to and for NACAC.
| 06 November 2021 | |
|---|---|
| 10.00 – 10.30am | Opening of NACAC Special CongressMr Keith Joseph, NACAC General Secretary – Chair
|
| 10:30 – 10:50am | Remarks
|
| 11:00 – 11:30am |
|
| 11:45am – 12:45pm |
|
On Sunday 31 October 2021, the NACAC Secretariat circulated to all Council and General members, the working papers for the NACAC Special Congress. During the Congress, the reports of the several Commissions and Working Groups will not be read. The Chair of each of these organisations will be available to respond to questions and comments that come from the general membership in attendance.
NACAC New Life Invitational 2022
NACAC convened yet another meeting with the authorities of the City of Miramar, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, on Thursday 28 October, to advance talks in respect of the hosting of the 2nd edition of the NACAC New Life Invitational, scheduled for Sunday 12 June 2022, as well as address the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions.
The meeting agreed that Coach O’s organisation will host a Youth Invitational Competition at which NACAC member federations would be invited to participate. This will be held at the ANSIN Sports Complex, the same venue of the NACAC New Life Invitational, on Saturday 11 June 2022. NACAC has committed to working with Coach O so that the two events can allow for an exciting weekend of track and field competition in one of the fastest growing track and field area in the Americas.
NACAC is also contemplating conducting a workshop in Miramar around the same time of the planned competitions.
Discussions moved significantly forward in respect of the proposed Memorandum of Understanding and there could be a signing off in the coming months.
NACAC Looks to Age Group Championships
NACAC Competitions Director, Michael Serralta, is hopeful that the member federations that have committed to participating in the Biennial NACAC Age Group Championships in Managua, Nicaragua, 17 – 18 December 2021, will deliver high quality, exciting competition for the Area. “These are an important starting point for our future athletics starts”, said, Mike Sands, NACAC President.
“We are all looking forward to seeing the athletes perform at their best in a competition that is designed to introduce them to our sport”.
The two-day competition is one that enables the athletes competing in the U13 and U15 categories, male and female, to engage in multievent competitions before they reach the stage of specialization in our sport.
Xiomara Larios, President of the member federation of Nicaragua, remains confident that he country will be excellent hosts for the members of NACAC and that they would wish to return to Nicaragua for future competitions.
Nicaragua is a member of the CADICA sub-region of NACAC. Over the past several years, CADICA member federations have readily stepped forward to host NACAC events when other member federations have found it difficult to do so because of numerous challenges.
NACAC continues to appeal to member federations to bid to host events in 2022 and beyond.
Meetings this Week
Tuesday 02 November 2021
7.00am – Area Presidents Team Meeting
Wednesday 03 November 2021
7.00pm – Weekly meeting – Mike Sands, Michael Serralta, Garth Gayle and Chester Morgan
Saturday 06 November 2021
10.00am – NACAC Special Congress – Virtual
Keith Joseph
P.O. Box 680, Kingstown, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Tel: (784) 457 9062 (H); (784) 457 2970 (O)
