This Week in NACAC: Carifta 2022 Update

Carifta 2022 Update

The stage is set for what promises to be a historic edition of the annual CARIFTA Games which commences on Saturday 16 April and ends on Monday 18 April 2022.

Setting the stage was the Jamaica ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) during the past week, 5 – 9 April at the same National Stadium in which the Games will be staged this week.

For aficionados of the sport of athletics, the drama could not have been better prepared. Jamaica, the historic leader of track and field athletics in the Caribbean and the nation with the most winning titles at the CARIFTA Games which began in 1972 in Barbados, has, over several decades, established its annual Boys’ and Girls’ Champs as perhaps the best competition of its kind in the entire world. This year was no exception.

After the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that this forces governments to impose on its peoples, the schools in Jamaica produced one of the most exciting and entertaining Champs of all time.

With Carifta to begin one week following this year’s Champs, there is little doubt that the entire global athletics family will have all eyes glued on their devices to follow every event in the CARIFTA Games this weekend. Many will be anxious to see which athletes would pose a threat to the dominance of the Jamaicans at their own national stadium and before an already energized audience.

For the JAAA, hosts to the CARIFTA Member Federations, and conscious of the fact that this is also the 60^th anniversary of Jamaican Independence, the occasion is already very special. The athletes who just competed at Champs and who have the good fortune of being on the nation’s representative team to the CARIFTA Games, are all excited about being part of an historic moment for all of Jamaica.

NACAC, is particularly proud that “as we prepare to go to the CARIFTA Games in Jamaica during this week, many of the athletes would have showcased their own readiness for the big event by doing well at their respective equivalent of ‘Boys’ and Girls’ Champs’”. So said Mike Sands, President of NACAC.

According to Sands, “Each edition of the 48 previous editions of the CARIFTA Games has been etched in the annals of our sport, athletics. This year, however, we expect the athletes to leave on the track, the evidence that we have proven our resilience in the midst of covid and its attendant consequences for almost every aspect of life as we had come to know it. We are certain that these Games in Jamaica will set new boundaries for the sport and for the Caribbean peoples”.

NACAC joins with all of Jamaica in welcoming the CARIFTA Family to the 49^th edition of the CARIFTA Games.

Carifta Games Communications Seminar

NACAC is delighted to have World Athletics’ Communications Department engage our leaders at the member federations level, in what is labelled, “Carifta Games Communications Seminar 2022”.

Part of NACAC’s strategic objective is to facilitate enhanced communications between all stakeholders. This Seminar, is an important step along the way to achieving this strategic objective which is consistent with those set by World Athletics.

Seminar Overview

This two-hour seminar aims to provide a highlevel overview, practical tools, tips and strategies to manage all forms of media – from traditional to digital and social media. It specifically focusses on strategic processes in all areas of communication, how to create messages that leave memorable impressions, create engagement and encourages sharing. The workshop will also look at how you can engage those you work with to help amplify your messages and support theirs.

Organisations and individuals are affected by the growing influence of social media and the growing “digital divide”. They tend to grapple with the balance between new and traditional media when in fact the convergence and connectivity of both have a an integrated impact on all the communities the organisations are managing. There are also growing challenges of meeting the increasing expectations of various audiences in this high speed, highly opinionated and highly competitive communications environment.

So, whilst rapidly evolving technology has transformed the way organisations can communicate and engage with their communities, there are clear opportunities and risks, as new and cost-effective tools allow instant and interactive communication. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it is not. Either way it needs to be managed.

The seminar content will focus on three core areas:

1. Strategic communications and example SWOT analysis
2. Social media and storytelling
3. Campaigning and crisis management

During the seminar we will also share some of the initiatives and activities that World Athletics is doing this year and seek feedback from participants about how and what else we can do to support the communications efforts of the Member Federations.

The Seminar will be run by Jackie Brock-Doyle, Executive Director, Communications at World Athletics and Michelle Sammet, Head of Stakeholder Relations at World Athletics. Both will be at the Carifta Games for the duration of the event and would welcome the opportunity to discuss one- on-one individual Federation’s communication needs, ideas, support and feedback.

So please do let us know if you would be interested and we will schedule some time.

The Workshop will run for two hours, 4.00 – 6.00pm (JA Time) and address strategy, planning, campaigning, social media and crisis communications.

NACAC is anticipating much interest in the workshop and looks forward to the benefits that would accrue therefrom.

Around NACAC

El Salvador

This Salvadoran Athletics Federation remains focused on completing its schedule of competitions for 2022, even though the main national stadium is undergoing extensive repairs in preparation for the Central American and Caribbean Games of 2023.

This weekend the Federation conducted the I Olympic Track and Field Tournament at the University of El Salvador (UES) athletic track facilities and at the Armed Forces Transmission Support Command (CATFA) in San Salvador.

A total of 109 athletes from 14 clubs and national teams competed in 21 track and field events. Andrea Michelle Velasco, competing in the senior women’s category, set a new national Pole Vault mark of 3.87m in the women’s senior category.

For full results visit the event website: https://athletismoelsalvador.revsys.net/Event; the Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/media.

HAI

Alain Jean-Pierre, former Treasurer of NACAC was returned to office as President of the Haitian Athletics Association at the organisation’s Elective General Assembly convened on 26 March 2022.

The Assembly was called in response to a decision by World Athletics and NACAC to call on the organization to do so. NACAC was represented at the Assembly by Treasurer of the St Lucia member federation, Alfred Emmanuel, who provided oversight of the election process.

According to Emmanuel, the Assembly met all pertinent requirements and the results must be accepted. He noted that the members in attendance were satisfied with the procedures and acted in accordance with the existing constitution.