BY JULIET CUTHBERT

I think we’re now off the athletic high of Berlin and Beijing after our track and field ambassadors made us proud.

Millions were spent on a grand homecoming to celebrate the success of our athletes returning from Beijing last year.

It was scaled down for the Berlin celebrations this year, with the Government’s request of US$168,000 from the private sector to offset the costs.

While I think it is great to honour and adulate our athletes, it is my belief that more tangible things can be put in place through a joint venture with the Government and the private sector. There is a need for us to build proper infrastructure for our athletes and offer tangible benefits, not media-worthy moments.

Sure other countries with accomplished athletes as ours celebrate theirs with equal fanfare, but they already have the infrastructure that we so desperately lack.

For example, most European countries provide the necessary facilities for their athletes. Belgium, for instance, gives a monthly salary to their athletes; they are also given free medical and physiotherapy treatment.

I believe that it is an indictment on our sporting bodies and the Government not to provide a state of the art facility where all sports can benefit. The National Stadium was refurbished in 2002 for the World Junior Championships with a short sightedness to show political supremacy. There was much-to-do-about nothing as far as naming the complex and not enough thinking into how to make Independence Park a first-class training facility that can also generate an income for its upkeep. The time is now to show our athletes that the country really cares about their well-being and not to only throw a gargantuan celebration every two or four years in their honour.

Things I would like to see happen before 2012

Infrastructure is the key to most sporting bodies’ success and we should be thankful that we have talent, and that the United States opened their doors to provide scholarships for our athletes beginning in the 1940s. We have benefited from the National Collegiate Athletic Association and it is only now that we are somewhat self-sufficient, all because some coaches realised that we have the capability to do it ourselves. I say kudos to the trendsetters who were visionaries that now fill us with belief. But I ask, are we really serious about building on our success?

There was always a call to have our athletes, who train abroad, to come home during the winter months for training. I took the challenge years ago and enjoyed training here but when I wanted a state-of-the-art facility I had to adapt to sub-standard methods, just like nurses and doctors do in our hospitals every day. ‘Mickey’ Haughton James, the managing director of Spartan Health Club, has been a solid support for many athletes, including myself, as I had a place to train free of cost once I was in town. But that’s not a state-operated gym set up to facilitate all national athletes. Where is that gym? Where is that national sports centre equipped with all the major amenities to develop a professional athlete?

Independence Park, which is underutilised, is prime to be Jamaica’s epicentre of sports. There you have the National Stadium, netball and basketball courts, football field, cycle track and two indoor arenas.

As I write this letter, the stadium pool is out of commission and the basketball and netball courts and stands are worn. The Stadium east track, where some of the world’s fastest human beings train, is deteriorating. The National Arena needs serious refurbishing; the interior is reminiscent of an old building in the Eastern block of Germany.

We saw recently large spending to refurbish the offices of the Ministry of Tourism. The athletes whom have flown the flag high year after year do not have some of the basic tools to enhance their training, yet somehow some ministries find the money for their enhancement.

State-of-the-Art Training Room

I would like to see a weight room set up at the National Stadium with state of the art equipment so our athletes from all sport can benefit, but this time with proper management and no political agenda. The proposed plan for the equipment should cost approximately JA$2 million.

* Cold and hot whirlpools

–US$2,000-$5,000 each

* Ultra sound machines

–US$15,000 each

* Tens machines

— US$200 each

* Taping tables

* Massage tables

* Refrigerator for ice

* Laundry centre

* Towels

We can consider this the first step in getting to our goal of having a proper sports centre. Other things needed later on would be a medical centre where an athlete can get reliable medical attention.

This would be for all national athletes at all level at little or no cost. Again, this would take cooperation between the Government and private sector. This would not be a money-making venture, but one that can successfully maintain itself while developing a sports hub for our athletes. Sacrfices from both sides would be needed.

Last year I was invited to join a committee to look at the possibility of providing health insurance for our athletes. Nothing has become of that. I propose instead to provide proper preventative measures, as too many of our high school athletes go without treatment for minor injuries, which in turn become lifelong setbacks.

We tend to blame the USA for running our athletes to the ground, but we have also been our own enemies for the overuse of our athletes at the high school level and not practising enough preventative care, as most schools cannot afford it.

All athletes should be able to benefit from this set-up by having a central location with the facilities at Independence Park. Athletes could get treatment at least twice weekly with the aid of doctors to diagnose and physiotherapists to treat these athletes.