BY SANJAY MYERS

Observer staff reporter

myerss@jamaicaobserver.com

AHEAD of their journey to Kazan, Russia, to compete in the July 6-17 World University Games, the Jamaica Inter-collegiate Sports Association executive has committed to making changes to help improve its profile on the local scene.

Undermined by funds shortage and facing a race against time to get enough money to fly a reduced delegation of 15 to the championships, the association’s second vice-president Dalton Myers conceded that “weaknesses” in public relations and marketing have to be ironed out.

Success in those areas, he believes, would put the multi-sport university body in a more favourable light and ultimately attract prospective partners and sponsors.

“We do have some weaknesses we have to work on and we will sit down and get that right.

“We do have a committee working assiduously… they have kind of upped the campaign in a way (and) we could have been in a better state than we are now, but we still believe we have a little window to get more in.

“The members looked at various areas where we needed help. When we went to the private sector (for sponsorship) we didn’t just ask for finances, we asked for quite a number of different things we thought the team would need,” he said during a meeting with the Observer’s Sports Desk at the newspaper’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters on Thursday.

Myers said that looking within the organisation was also an avenue being explored.

“Additionally, one thing we are looking at carefully is how much support the institutions themselves can give. We did it successfully going to the World University Netball Championship where the institutions had come on in a big way with stuff like per diem and things like that,” Myers explained.

Intercol’s general secretary MoyAnn Simpson chimed in that “part of the strategic objective is to get our name out there and our image out there” to help clear the way for those entrusted to improve the marketability of the association.

Her colleague Rashid Hall, the head of the track and field thrust, was adamant that constant communication with the numerous national sporting bodies is also integral in ensuring that the Inter-collegiate Association remains on point.

“We have to keep the link with the associations to figure out what is our role, how can we help them and how they can help us in moving forward.

“We are talking about these Games now, but after Kazan there are lots of other things that will come and we have to try and fix those things that are not working so well and improve upon those which can be improved upon.

“This year we focused a lot on marketing the championships, so you would have seen reports in the media… we had online partners through a lot of photography websites as well,” Hall said.

At the previous University Games staged in Shenzhen, China, in August 2011, Jamaica finished 11th in the medal standings after winning nine medals, including six gold, two silver and a bronze.