What an amazing Year for NACAC!

What an amazing Year for NACAC!!!!!!!

Indeed!

What an amazing year we have had in NACAC as we continued the very rich legacy of what was started in the latter part of 1989 when member federations were brought together by then Area Representative, Amadeo Francis, in San Juan, Puerto Rico to approve the constitution and officially launch the organization.

Neville ‘Teddy ‘ Mc Cook of Jamaica continued the legacy and later, Victor Lopez, took hold of the baton of leadership before passing it on to the current NACAC President, Mike Sands of The Bahamas.

In 2021, NACAC continued its very proud tradition of leading athletics in a very special way, with the USA, our largest member, continuing to garner most of the medals at the quadrennial Summer Olympics, with the latest haul coming in Tokyo when the postponed edition of the Games of 2020 were finally held. Clearly, NACAC remains proud of the achievements of the US athletes.

Jamaica continued to show the world that as a proud member of the NACAC Family, its athletes can achieve remarkable success at all levels. Most outstanding however are the outstanding performances of NACAC and World Athletics Athlete of the Year, Elaine Thompson-Herah. For the second consecutive edition of the Summer Olympics, Thompson-Herah completed the 100m/200m double, bearing in mind that the one-year postponement of the Games made the achievement five years apart.

But Jamaica served up coverage of the top three sports in the finals of the women’s 100m in Toyo, once more emphasizing the depth of Jamaican sprinting, but also highlighted the fact that for the first time in athletics history, there was more interest generated in the women’s 100m than in that of the men.

There were notable achievers from all around the NACAC Family and more than anything else, we acknowledge the achievements of our female athletes that must serve as a catalyst to our young female athletes across the region as they look ahead. They can all be filled with optimism about their capacity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts.

Of course, we all witnessed a very emotional farewell to Allyson Felix, very much a doyen of USATF but importantly, of all of NACAC. In Tokyo, e very representative of NACAC was in full cheering mode every stride she made in the women’s 4 x 400m relay final. While the team won and so did NACAC, there was a sense in which we all signalled a fond farewell for a young woman who, in her quietude, has meant so very much for so many athletes and fans all across NACAC.

Commissions and Working Groups

During 2021, every one of the NACAC Commissions and Working Groups has been fully functional with outstanding and highly appreciative performances.

The Athletes Commission has reached out to athletes around the Area, eagerly facilitating dialogue on aspects of the sport generally and, in some cases, specifically impacting them.

The Competitions Commission has been actively pursuing hosts for NACAC events while addressing concerns about the impact of the pandemic on host member federations and, in tandem with the Director of Competitions, Michael Serralta, making adjustments where possible, to facilitate the successful hosting of the competitions. This has not been easy but we have managed to do well, in the circumstances.

Thanks to the Sports Journalists Working Group we have been able to have our official NACAC Athletes of the Year for both Indoor and Outdoor competitions, a first for the Area. This is part pf the commitment of the Working Group to more aggressively tell the NACAC story to the world. Our Gender Leadership Working Group has been extremely diligent and capped an excellent year of activities with the innovative celebration of our athletes for their achievements at this year’s Tokyo Olympics.

The NACAC Development Commission has been busy creating education pathways for our primary stakeholders – athletes, coaches, technical officials and administrators. The actual implementation of the aforementioned programmes is set for early 2022.

The Medical and Anti-Doping Commission has kept pace with the numerous health protocols that have been developed for sporting organisations subsequent to the continued changes of the covid- 19 pandemic. This has not been easy but the Commission has been up to the challenge.

With the engagement of a Director of Coaches and Camps the leadership added a Coaches Working Group which has been meeting regularly and had recently been represented at the USA’s annual Convention for track and field coaches. This year’s event was held in Orlando, Florida and attended by Working Group Chair, John LoFranco and Director of Coaches and Caps, Chester Morgan.

The Governance Commission has focused most of its attention on the Constitution Review Process which is still in progress. This will continue through the early part of 2022 and be officially brought before the General Council later in the year.

Additionally, the Governance Commission addressed the elections process in Aruba and Haiti. Work is planned on creating templates to assist member federations with their constitutions to ensure compliance with changes mandated by World Athletics by way of ongoing review.

Communications

There has been no shortage of information emanating from the NACAC Secretariat in respect of developments taking place within the organisation.

Carlos Clemente has been quite aggressive with the maintenance of the NACAC website and combining that with the updating of the NACAC statistics.

For the second consecutive year the weekly document, This Week In NACAC, consistently provided updates to member federations with highlights from around the Area. Increasingly, the document is reaching stakeholders of our member federations by deliberate policy as well as being read by track and field fans beyond the Area.

NACAC Circuit

For some it may well be a dream come through.

Reference is being made here to the establishment of the NACAC Circuit of One-Day athletics competitions, a response by the newly created NACAC Circuit Working Group, to the commitment of our President, Mike Sands.

President Sands is insistent that the Area does more for our athletes by facilitating more competitions, generally, and increase access to competitions that have ranking points for the participants.

The inaugural NACAC Circuit begins in 2022 with a list of more than 30 Meets spread across the Area during the months of March and June. According to President Sands, ‘The NACAC Circuit will enable more of the Area’s athletes to stay at home and compete for ranking points and earn valuable income for their careers in the sport. At the same time it affords NACAC greater visibility and enhanced engagement with its athletes, who are already amongst the very best in the world”.

Marketing

NACAC’s leadership has been engaged in negotiations with one party to undertake the task of marketing the organization and its activities on a long-term basis. At the end of 2021, it is expected that the negotiations will be concluded and 2022 usher in a new era in the organisation.

Negotiations have also been ongoing with the City of Miramar, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, relative to a long-term relationship that includes making the venue the home of the annual NACAC New Life Invitational.

Member Relations

Over the past year NACAC has afforded member federations an excellent opportunity to be in constant contact and several have taken full advantage of the accessibility of the leadership and engagement of all in the broader governance of the organization.

Our World Athletics Council Members are also fully engaged in our activities and meetings, adding significant value to the operations of our organization as well as ensuring that wea re in sync with the international federation’s mandates.

This aspect of the leadership of the organization augurs well for a more united approach to matters that impact our stakeholders.

Representation

NACAC’s members on the World Athletics Council have given good account of themselves during the past year and have continued the proud tradition of former members in making their voices heard and their votes count.

Whenever called upon to contribute to any aspect of NACAC’s activities, the Council members have shown that they are unselfish in their commitment to elevating our standards.

President Mike Sands as well as our several members who sit on World Athletics’ Commissions and Working Groups have all been commended for their diligence. We are proud of all of them for the quality of their representation.

Unfinished Business!!!!

Of course, there are aspects of our work that did not go as planned and others that are just getting started. We are of the view that the doors remain open and that we will prevail in the end.

NACAC Constitution Review

We understand the tedious nature of the NACAC constitution review process.

NACAC’s leadership therefore asks its member federations to be patient. The fact is that we have also just had some important amendments to the World Athletics’ Constitution which had previously undergone reviews in 2017 and again in 2019.

The new amendments has implications for the constitutions of member federations and also, Area Associations.

Our Governance Commission is on the ball and will deliver on amendments, a draft of which will be available for presentation and explanation in March 2022.

As always, NACAC will be at the forefront of constitutional change for the betterment of our sport.

Qatar Tracks

Several years ago when Qatar was bidding to gain the rights to host the World Championships of 2019, a total of 10 tracks were on offer as a contribution to then IAAF. Over the years NACAC began discussions regarding the fact that as yet there were three of its member federations without synthetic tracks: Anguilla, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In 2020, the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines constructed a track and hence informed that it ought not to be included among the NACAC member federations in need of a track. That left Anguilla and Dominica

Since taking office, President Sands has been persistent in his appeal for Anguilla and Dominica to be given due consideration. As far as NACAC is concerned no firm decision has as yet been made regarding the status of the Qatar tracks and whether or not our members are being given due consideration.

NACAC’s leadership continues to make the case for both Anguilla and Dominica, in an attempt to ensure that we can eventually have all of our member federations duly served with synthetic tracks and hence, a level playing field in respect of the preparation of their athletes for regional and international competitions.

Communications

Whilst the NACAC Secretariat has significantly improved the level of communications with its member federations, we are aware that there is still need for enhanced communications in the other direction.

Member federations have been encouraged by President Sands of the importance of responding in a timely manner to correspondences from both itself and World Athletics, in a timely manner.

According to President Sands, “timely responses to correspondences from our office is an integral component of ‘good governance’. We need to her from our member federations as often as they hear from us. This is a two-way street. We need to step up our game in the area of correspondences as we are doing in the competitive arena”.

World Plan

NACAC’s Willie Banks was asked to play the leading role on the World Athletics Council in preparing the World Plan.

NACAC’s stance on the World Plan goes well beyond having one of its iconic athletes being involved at the leadership level. It involves the entire Area getting behind the Plan, given its potential to transform our sport at every critical level.

NACAC therefore pledges its full support to the World Athletics World Plan and commits to ensuring that here again, we take the lead amongst the global athletics family.

We commit to meeting the challenge in 2022 as a critical point of departure for the life of the World Athletics World Plan.

Happy New Year!!!