This Week in NACAC: “NACAC’s Women are very special athletes and an inspiration to all” – Mike Sands

“NACAC’s Women are very special athletes and an inspiration to all” – Mike Sands

NACAC’s President, Mike Sands, has lauded the women of NACAC for their consistent commitment to athletics excellence over the years. This came as part of his contribution to this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day scheduled for Tuesday 8 March 2022.

According to Mike Sands, NACAC’s women have long risen to the top of the ladder in athletics, dominating the sprints, hurdles and relays, for the most part. The most recent evidence came at the Tokyo Olympics of 2021.

“Of course, our female athletes from the Caribbean have proven highly competitive despite the fact that they come from relatively small islands with limited resources and facilities compared to the larger countries that usually dominate international sport by dint of their sheer numbers”, Sands noted.

Sands also paid due recognition to those women of the Area who have distinguished themselves in athletics administration. “Abby Hoffman, a long-serving Council member of World Athletics, has earned international respect for her remarkable contribution to our sport. Cuba’s Maria Caridad Colon, javelin gold medallist at the Montreal Olympics is now a member of the International Olympic Committee. Stephanie Hightower was President of USA Track and Field, and Evelyn Lopez did pioneering work promoting women leaders in athletics”, Sands said, elatedly.

“As we observe yet another IWD, NACAC is proud of its commitment to developing female athletes, technical officials, coaches and administrators, who will inspire successive generations as yet unborn”, Sands concluded.

NACAC’s Gender Leadership Commission will feature in a major activity on Tuesday, joining World Athletics and the rest of the world in celebrating excellence amongst women in athletics.

World Athletics, NACAC condemn invasion

World Athletics, the international federation governing athletics across the globe, continued to play a leadership role in the strongest possible condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

For our part, President Sands stated:

NACAC today issues a very strong condemnation of the recent decision by the Russia to invade the country of Ukraine and starting a war that will incur significant loss of lives, the destruction of the country’s economy and leaving untold numbers without homes and places of work.

NACAC is extremely proud that the athletes of the world have let their voices join those of millions around who vehemently reject the Russian invasion and its seeming disregard for all norms of democracy and international law.

As a member of World Athletics, NACAC has been a party to all Congress decisions to impose sanctions on Russia for the numerous infractions of the organisation’s competition rules and failure to satisfy all conditions required for a return to full participation in its global events. We understand only too well the evidence of State-sponsored doping that has characterised the Russian athletics programme.

Today, NACAC acknowledges that genuine leadership requires of us the airing of our condemnation of a government that has shown a complete lack of respect for peace and international understanding, two of the most fundamental principles for which sport exists. As the world’s leading sport for individuals, the entire athletics fraternity must be unified in this condemnation and ensure that there is no room for Russia to manoeuvre in sport to achieve its government’s ugly and most despicable aggression against Ukraine. We ask the same in respect of the government of Belarus that has made clear its support for the actions undertaken by Russia in respect of Ukraine.

We agree with the athletes of the world and encourage those of our sport to continue to make their voices heard, loud enough to have the desired impact, an end to Russian aggression against Ukraine and a return to international peace.

Carifta 2022 Update

The visit by Keith Joseph and Michael Serralta, Organisational and Technical Delegates for the 49^th edition of the Carifta Games, scheduled for Kingston, Jamaica, 16 – 18 April 2022, concluded yesterday, Saturday 5 March.

The Local Organising Committee, led by Dr Hon Michael Fennell, former President of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Chair of the Technical Commission of Panam Sports, convened on Friday morning and went through the administrative aspects of the Games preparation exercise. This involved presentations on Accommodation, Accreditation, Ceremonies, Medical and Anti-Doping, Risk Management and Security.

Following the aforementioned meeting, the delegation did undertake a comprehensive inspection of the national stadium’s facilities for the competition.

On Saturday, the delegation engaged in a comprehensive tour of the Games Village at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. They again met with the Local Organising Committee to discuss matters arising from the activities undertaken on the previous day, finalise the report and agree on the next steps.

The Games Village allows each athlete and official to have his/her own room. There is no sharing of rooms. All persons in the Village would have to bring along their own towels. All else will be provided. Laundry services are available but individuals will have to procure their tokens from Village Management for use of the machines. There will be adequate internet connectivity, medical and security personnel and rooms for recreation as well as team physios to work on their athletes.

The University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) will be the main referral medical facility for the Games Family.

There is an expectation that spectators will be allowed for the Games given that approval was received for the Gibson/McCook Relays and will be approved for the Boys’ and Girls’ Champs.

The finalised version of the Technical Manual of the Carifta Games 2022 will be circulated on Monday 7 March.

Around NACAC

Aruba

The AAF is on the Move!

That’s the theme of the Aruba Athletics Federation (AAF) as the organisation confronts the challenges of building the sport up from the base.

The AAF understands the importance of coaching to its rebuilding process and has taken action to address this aspect.

Potential coaches in Aruba are now better prepared to get involved in coaching in our sport, athletics.

On Friday last, 4 March 2022, experienced Aruban coach, Peter Simon, concluded a Pre-Level #1 coaches education course in the country. According to the AAF, “the course also served as an opportunity to gauge the seriousness of the current group of coaches before we engage with WA/NACAC on this coaches development process. We now have a committed group that we will move with towards the WA Level 1 Course.”

The course was paid for by the participants. The lecturers provided their time and expertise. The University of Aruba provided the facilities at a discounted price to also assist the AAF’s programme.

The course had approximately 15 participants, all of whom are connected to their respective AAF Clubs.

El Salvador

With the country’s national stadium under extensive repairs in preparation for hosting the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2023, the Salvadoran Athletics Federation is not deterred.

Instead, over the weekend the Federation held the 2^nd Non-Olympic Track and Throwing Tournament at the athletic stadium of the University of El Salvador (UES) and at the facilities of FUSALMO, San Miguel.

Eager to compete following the absence of competition for several months because of the coronavirus, a total of 235 athletes from 22 clubs and national teams, and one athlete from Belize, contested events at the competition that included 22 test events in female and male categories. Five

(5) national records were broken as follows:

Esteban Josué Ibáñez (CAS) – 60mH in 8.20secs.

Aaron Alexander Hernandez (Betania) – 1000mts in 2:29.33s Cesar Enrique Peraza (Betania) – 2000m Steeplechase in 6:07.64s Yency Xiomara Chamur (Rasan) – 500m in 1:18.81s

Pablo Andres Ibáñez (CAS) – 500m in 1:01.71s

The Federation held its first throwing camp for 2022 alongside the competition at the FUSALMO San Miguel Complex, where athletes from the different throwing events trained under the guidance of coach, Miguel Escobar, of Venezuela. The camps are sponsored by World Athletics in collaboration with the Salvador del Mundo Foundation FUSALMO.

Martinique

At the  French National Throws Indoor Championships, Martinique’s U23 Men’s Discus champion, Marc Alexandre Delin, continued his winning ways. He retained his title with a throw of 51.10m. William Cadenat was third with a throw of 49.39m.

Tamera Manette, also U23, realized a season’s best with a Shot Put throw of 14.77m while placing second in the event.

Nicaragua

The Nicaraguan Athletics Federation this weekend continued its development programme.

On Saturday 5 March, the Federation conducted its National Relay Championships in the U11, U13, U15 and Senior categories. In keeping with the World Athletics mandate to strive after gender equity in our sport the Nicaraguan Federation’s Relay Championships featured a total of 172 athletes (86 women and 86 men) in the mixed 4×100 and 4×400 events, respectively.

Rivas club was the most outstanding at the Championships winning the 4×100 Senior Female, U15 4×100 Mixed Under15 and the 4×400 Mixed Senior

On Sunday 6 March the Nicaraguan Athletics Federation paid tribute to the women of NACAC with the Cross Country Race and a 5Km Walk. These activities, which saw over 200 female athletes participating, formed part of the country’s observance of International Women’s Day. Belen Solis won the U15 with a time of 18:17 minutes, Kenia López won the Under18 with a time of 16:04 minutes and Auxiliadora Moraga won the senior 5K with a time of 16:20 minutes.

St Lucia

Three of St Lucia’s Junior athletes achieved qualifying performances at the member federation’s Independence Games.

Mon Repos Athletics Club (Mopo AC) athlete, Jeremiah Felix, cleared the pole vault at 4.10m, much better than the qualifying mark of 3.48m. Clubmate, Rashid James, also achieved the pole vault standard with a 3.50m performance.

On the track, 15-year old, Naomi London of Pacesetters, romped home in the 100m for Girls U17, in a time of 11.82. This performance qualified her for the World Athletics U20 Championships, set for Cali, Colombia, later this year, in addition to meeting the Carifta Games qualifying standard. qualification standard.

St Vincent and the Grenadines

While the Vincentian athletes at colleges in the USA were resting this weekend ahead of the grand finals for the NCAA Indoors next weekend, those in the Corporate Area in Jamaica were in the track.

Handal Roban, competing for Jamaica College, continued to show excellent form by smashing the 800m record of 1:49.79, held by Kimar Farquharson, with a new time of 1:49.53.

Verrol Sam, competing for Kingston College, won the high jump with a leap of 2.05m, making the qualifying standard set by Team Athletics St Vincent and the Grenadines (TASVG). He also broke the U20 and senior national high jump records in the process.

Uroy Ryan, competing for Jamaica College, finished second in the U20 long jump with a leap of 759m, and in the process made the standards for both Carifta Games and World Juniors respectively.

Not to be outdone, Amal Glasgow, competing for Kingston College, finished third while registering a time of 47.39 in the 400m U20 to qualify, like Uroy, for both the Carifta Games and World Juniors, respectively.

NACAC member federations to join WA programmes

Member federations of the NACAC Area are being reminded of the importance of their full involvement in programmes and activities being undertaken by World Athletics.

According to NACAC President, Mike Sands, “NACAC must not only lead on the field of competition but in all spheres of our international programmes and activities”.

Women in Athletics

NACAC’s Gender Leadership Working Group has joined World Athletics in celebrating the second year of its #WeGrowAthletics campaign “to build on the strides the sport has taken towards greater gender equality, recognising that women play an essential role in growing our sport.”

Accordingly, “coinciding with International Women’s Day on Tuesday, 8  March 2022,  World Athletics is reviewing the progress made since the launch of last year’s campaign and will make a number of new pledges to further advance the roles of girls and women in athletics”.

Note that NACAC is asking our member federations to join “in this year’s International Women’s Day theme to share inspiring stories of role models in and around athletics to collectively #BreakTheBias and inspire an equal and sustainable tomorrow.

“To play your part to #BreakTheBias, strike a pose (cross your arms in solidarity); post the photo to social media; tag a role model and pledge to share their story.

Safeguarding

NACAC is committed to participation by its member federations in the consultation process being undertaken by World Athletics to inform the development of Safeguarding Materials for the general membership of our international federation, including the athletes. The consultation process is being led by the World Athletics Safeguarding Working Group chaired by NACAC’s Abby Hoffman.

We have until the end of March to participate in the consultation exercise.

She Runs – She Leads Webinar Series

World Athletics is inviting member federations to be part of the latest of its webinar series entitled, She Runs – She Leads.

Gabriela Mueller Mendoza, one of the most well-known empowering voices in coaching and training in the world of sports, will deliver game-changer experiences that inspire change, challenge thinking, encourage self-empowerment and growth.

Register to join the She Runs-She Leads Series:

30 March 2022: Gain Self-Confidence and Crush Self-doubt

7 July 2022: Personal brand/image

27 October 2022: Stakeholder Management and Influence Skills