Carifta Games 2024
Easter weekend 2024 will see Grenada host the 51st edition of the Carifta Games.
The Carifta Games started in 1972 following discussions between a few of the leaders of track and field athletics in the Caribbean.
Initially, the concept was to facilitate an annual athletics competition for the member federations of the countries that were engaged in the formation of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), all of which were English-speaking. According to the CARICOM records, in December 1965 “the Heads of Government of Antigua, Barbados and British Guiana signed an Agreement at Dickenson Bay, Antigua, to set up the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA).
“The new CARIFTA agreement came into effect on May 1, 1968, with the participation of Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The original idea to permit all territories in the Region to participate in the Association was achieved later that year with the entry of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent in July and of Jamaica and Montserrat on August 1, 1968. British Honduras (Belize) became a member in May 1971.”
The records state, “At the Seventh Heads of Government Conference in October 1972, Caribbean Leaders decided to transform CARIFTA into a Common Market and establish the Caribbean Community of which the Common Market would be an integral part.” This new entity is referred to as CARICOM and officially agreed to in a signing by the Independent English-speaking Caribbean countries at the time (Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago) on 4 July 1973. Since then, several other English-speaking countries joined CARICOM either as full members or associate members.
Consistent with the CARICOM membership, the CARIFTA Games has essentially become the world’s most exciting junior Games for athletes of the CARICOM family, competing in two age categories, U17 and U20.
The records reveal that some of the Carifta Games athletes. have gone on to become Olympic, World and Commonwealth champions and medallists. Usain Bolt has been the most successful male athlete emerging from the Carifta Games. Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis remains the lone sprint champion of the world from a country with a population of less than 60,000 people.
Marie-Jose Perec of Guadeloupe had her start at the Carifta Games as also did Veronica Campbell-Browne and The Bahamas’ golden girls, Shaunae Miller-Uibo and now reigning world record holder for the 60mH Indoors, Devynne Charlton. The list continues to grow so much so that the international athletics fraternity, led by successive World Athletics presidents, acknowledges the Carifta Games as the most incredible junior athletics spectacle and entertainment event.
For years the Carifta Games were focused solely on Athletics. Then an attempt was made to convert the event into a junior multi-sport Games and a few editions were held with the likes of Boxing, Swimming, and Cycling, to name a few. At the same time, an attempt was made to place the Games under the National Olympic Committees and Commonwealth Games Associations of the CARICOM countries.
The cost of the multi-sport Carifta Games was deemed too high, and a decision was taken in 1989 to revert to athletics alone. Following this decision Carifta Athletics continued. Carifta Swimming was later officially established and remains in place to this day and the annual competition is held over the Easter weekend.
SVG Carifta Trials
Each year Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines’ (TASVG) Selection Committee works with the Executive and especially the Technical Director of the organisation, to determine what the Carifta Standards would be for Vincentian athletes. These are usually prepared in the latter part of the previous year and circulated amongst the organisation’s clubs and schools.
The TASVG Selection Policy states that “Achievement of the approved standards does not automatically guarantee selection to the final representative team. The Executive Committee of Team Athletics SVG is the final determinant of the whether the selected athletes travel to compete at the designated competitions after consideration of the financial requirements and any other factor(s) deemed pertinent”.
The foregoing clause is relevant since athletes who are under disciplinary sanctions may well be deemed ineligible. Anyone found guilty of breaching the World Anti-Doping Code would also be considered ineligible.
World Athletics has allowed the Area Association, NACAC Athletics, the right to allow athletes who are not nationals of their country of residence but who have been living in the country for some time because of the employment of a parent, to represent the member federation of their host country if they so desire. This is exclusive to the Carifta Games.
Carifta Trials in St Vincent and the Grenadines are held every year, early enough to facilitate the identification of the athletes, organise coordinated team training, procurement of uniforms and arrangements for air travel.
Athletes who are considered borderline on the established standards are often given the opportunity for selection consideration to be given based on their performances at their individual school competitions as well as the annual Inter-Secondary Schools Athletics Championships (ISSAC).
Every year, consideration is given to the participation of athletes in the Development Meets. This is because it gives selectors an opportunity to monitor the progress being made by athletes during the season and their consistency in this regard.
The programme of Development Meets for 2024 has been severely hampered by the unavailability of the synthetic track at Diamond due to the placement of the roof on the bleachers. There was also a lack of access to the major/larger grassed fields in Arnos Vale and Sion Hill, because of the extensive preparation being undertaken ahead of this country’s hosting of matches in the International Cricket Council’s T20 World Cup in June of this year.
The extensive use of the Victoria Park where the maximum sized track was 250m, did not do much for the athletes who were seriously preparing themselves to make the nation’s Carifta team. The turns on the smaller field were much too tight for most of the athletes who had been in training since September of 2023.
This year’s Carifta Trials were held, 9 – 10 March, at the Diamond Sport Facility, home to the lone synthetic track in the country.
The Vincentian athletes seeking to make the Carifta standards, received an important boost when the Athletics Association of Barbados (AAB), requested an opportunity to participate in the Vincentian Trials.
In the past, the AAB accepted the TASVG’s requests to do likewise at their qualifiers because we wanted to see our athletes compete on the synthetic surface ahead of final selection. Only Barbados, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines allow this practice without discriminating against any of the participating athletes. Most of the other countries allow foreign athletes to compete against their own athletes only in the preliminaries.
The presence of the Barbadians at this country’s Carifta Trials allowed the Selection Committee to analyse where our athletes were against a team of athletes from Barbados, known to do well at the annual regional event.
Happily, several of our Vincentian athletes proved themselves capable, not only of making the established Carifta standards for 2024 but also of showing that they were in better shape than some of their Bajan counterparts in some of the events.
The selection process for Team SVG for the Carifta Games 2024, has already begun to take shape following the Trials. Those not yet selected would have opportunities to do so at the heats and finals of the ISSAC, ahead of the Carifta Games.
Team Support
The Carifta Team does not usually receive any funding support from the government or the National Lotteries Authority (NLA). The competition amongst national sports associations for funding support from local commercial houses often seems a bit too much for the small size of the market so whatever is received, if any, is welcomed.
We can expect that much of the team support comes from parents, teachers, classmates and friends, all of whom enjoy the fact that their children and students are successful in gaining selection by dint of their performances, free of any form of nepotism and certainly not the slightest hint of corruption and/or discrimination.
We are all hopeful that our athletes will give of their best and that is good enough.
With coaches from US universities coming to the Carifta Games in abundance, seeking the next generation of athletes with the potential to become elite in the future, we would appreciate some of our young stars gaining selection.
The Carifta team is a national team and be imbued by a strong sense of national pride and commitment to be excellent ambassadors of St Vincent and the Grenadines, while in national duty in Grenada.
