TODAY’S Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association’s (JAAA) elections are among its most important to date, because track and field has catapulted Jamaica to stratospheric heights in the international sporting arena.

The current campaign has been at times contentious. That is expected. It is a campaign, not a tea party. A few barbs have been thrown, but not to worry, once the track season starts it will be back to business by all those who are now in full campaign mode.

That said, the outcome of the elections will determine the path and trajectory of our track and field programme for the next four years. Hence the energy and the passion which have accompanied the sparring among those who, under normal circumstances, would be circumspect and reserved.

While we must not underestimate the contribution of early pioneers such as the legendary Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint, the indomitable Donald Quarrie, the enduring Merlene Ottey, and the effervescent Deon Hemmings, Jamaica’s unquestionable dominance in the sprints — on the world stage — has come about in only the last 10 years. And our recognition as the sprint capital of the world has gained substantial credence since only 2008.

It is important, therefore, for those who are now offering themselves for the leadership of the JAAA — Dr Warren Blake, Grace Jackson and Lincoln Eatmon — to understand what has caused this qualitative leap in our athletics performance, which took place under the leadership of former President Howard Aris, how it can be sustained, and how it can be built upon.

The critical issues

In this context, there are five critical issues for their consideration:

1. The revolutionary developments which have taken place in communications technology have launched sport, in this case track and field, into a global marquee event, of which Jamaica has become a central player.

While this can be easily argued to have been as a result of the international iconic status of Usain Bolt, it is further underpinned by the star qualities of athletes such as Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and a whole host of others, as well as the leadership of the Aris-led administrative team.

While the athletes mentioned did not gain international stardom overnight, the new JAAA leadership will have to ensure that it is on the cutting edge of modern technology as it seeks to advance a programme which will allow athletes of the calibre of those named to be able to make it to the world stage.

2. Most of the athletes who are now at the pinnacle of international success are Jamaican-trained. Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Asafa Powell, Brigette Foster-Hylton, and Melaine Walker come readily to mind. The combination of world-class ranked coaches with the vision of integrating track and field clubs with leading tertiary institutions has proven to be a winning formula. The new leadership of the JAAA must find ways and means to encourage this approach elsewhere.

The GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, apart from the provision and delivery of formal academic education, must also be seen as a virtual oasis waiting to be tapped as an incubator for an existing club. So too, Mico University College, the Northern Caribbean University in the centre of the island, and Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in the west.

As an extension of this, clubs around the island must be given greater emphasis. After leaving competition at the secondary level, the only real opportunity for athletes to maintain the competitive edge, if they are not interested in pursuing tertiary education, is to get involved in club activities.

3. The connection between the local athletic fraternity and an entity with global commercial and marketing reach — in this case PUMA International, has helped Jamaica to get integrated into the international economy.

At the last two Olympics, PUMA brought its marketing skills and organised a series of promotional fora, cleverly underpinning their work with the pulsating beat of our reggae music, to create what many of us have known for a long time, that sport and reggae music, make a winning Jamaican formula on the international market.

PUMA is just one example that the new leadership of the JAAA can use to leverage Jamaica’s presence in the international market. Despite PUMA’s assistance, Jamaica’s track and field, at the moment, is just tinkering with the huge possibilities of what Jamaica can earn in the global economy.

In 2008, for example, Jamaica’s track athletes, particularly Usain Bolt, created an unquestionable impact in China. This market of over a billion persons, which is largely responsible for fuelling much- needed growth in the world economy, has remained largely untapped by the JAAA. The new leadership must examine very seriously all the possibilities which the Chinese market has to offer.

4. Over the last twenty years, despite it not being what we would like, the funding of track and field has increased significantly. The dedicated stream of funds from the state-funded Sport Development Foundation (SDF) to the efforts of the JAAA must not be underestimated. Likewise, the implementation of numerous sport tracks, by the said SDF, has led to the improvement of a number of sporting facilities around the country.

An example of this is the recent upgrading of the sport facilities by the SDF at Edwin Allen High School, which recently won the annual Girls’ championships, after a sustained string of successes by Holmwood Technical High School.

Over the last 10 years funding from the private sector has also increased in the area of track and field. As examples, GraceKennedy stepped up to the plate to substantially fund the annual Boys’ and Girls’ championships, and Jamaica National Building Society recognised the value of the annual Jamaica Invitational and decided to get on board.

5. The awareness of the importance of track and field to national development has increased in the last ten years. It is not where it should be, or can be, but more and more track and field is not being seen as peripheral, but central to the realisation of sustainable economic growth with equity.

The JAAA must build on this platform

The players in the tourist industry have been quietly buying into the concept of sport tourism. The initiatives undertaken during the recent Olympics in London, and the attempts to mobilise the Jamaican diasporic communities in the United Kingdom are signs that at last, the leadership of the Jamaican state agencies are moving beyond seeing sport, and specifically track and field, as purely recreational.

The fact that gate receipt is no longer the main way of generating revenues from sport, but by negotiating deals by way of broadcast rights and sponsorships, is slowly evolving as an economic norm.

Jamaica’s track and field has the potential to generate its own revenue and wean itself off the national budget. In this period of intense global economic competition, the JAAA cannot afford to lock itself into any sponsorship contract for more than four years, unless it has built in clauses which allows the JAAA to demand what other competiting sponsors are prepared to offer.

Apart from these five areas which have added to the dynamics of track and field, and which must be built upon, there are some other critical issues which require concentrated attention.

Athletes facing economic challenges

One is the welfare of our athletes. This includes current athletes as well as those who are no longer active on the track. Our athletes have always been, and will continue to be, the foundation of the country’s track and field programme.

Regrettably, over the years there have been too many complaints, some behind the scenes and very quietly by some athletes, that some administrators of the sport have not been as sensitive as they should to their social, medical and economic challenges.

There is, for example, the need for the implementation of a specially designed medical insurance scheme for current athletes; a medical programme which can be easily accessed by the athletes, underpinned by the establishment of a pain management centre; the creation of a pension plan for the athletes, recognising that only a tiny fraction of the athletes will make sufficient funds during their athletic career, which will allow them, with proper management, to survive when their careers are at an end.

There is also the need for the identification and retention of trained and experienced persons who can help the athletes with their personal and social development, particularly those who are constantly under the glare of the camera, on how to properly represent themselves and their country off the track.

The second has to do with the sport itself. When Jamaica launched its assault on the athletic international stage in 1948 and 1952 it was the 400m in which we were most dominant. In later years, with the emergence of our sprinters, we have become dominant in the 100 and 200m, as well as in the hurdles. We have to get back to where we were in the 400m, as well as build on the fine talents which are emerging among our throwers.

The JAAA must also continue to help with the promotion and strengthening of the country’s anti-doping programme. If there is any issue which can derail, almost irreparably, Jamaica’s track and field programme it’s the evidence of nonchalance in this area. So far, we have been able to successfully manage the challenges we have faced, but consistent and vigorous attention to this area of work is unquestionable.

The three persons who have put themselves forward for the position of president of the JAAA have all contributed, in their own way, to the prolongation of track and field in Jamaica. However, what track and field needs at this time are not just persons who can, as important as it is, only give oversight to the organisation of athletic meets, but a team which is able to mobilise the necessary resources to develop the sport within the context of growing our national economy.

It also needs a team that can bring all the parties together, after a potentially fractious campaign. In other words, it needs persons who are team players, who realise the invaluable worth of each person and can find space in the national programme for those persons.

Further, it needs a team which will place the welfare of the athletes as one of the critical planks of development of the sport. It also needs a team which is not indifferent to buzz words such as transparency and accountability, and which is prepared to make the necessary sacrifice without considering personal benefits.