Despite opposition from numerous coaches, high school principals have unanimously voted to have several proposed changes implemented for this year’s Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships.

George Forbes, ISSA’s competitions director, told the Jamaica Observer that at a meeting held at Terra Nova All-Suites Hotel last Friday all 105 principals agreed to support the move aimed at reducing the workload on student-athletes. The proposal was made by a technical committee comprising Forbes, coaching great Glen Mills, and local athletics executive Garth Gayle.

“They basically voted 105 to zero. Nobody abstained and nobody voted against it. So basically we are happy with that and, as a matter of fact, most of the principals are saying this should have happened a long time ago,” said Forbes.

The technical committee recommended that Class One athletes are eligible to compete in only four events — down from the previous five. Those athletes are now limited to two individual events and two relays.

An athlete competing in field events is only allowed to take part in three. An athlete competing in the decathlon/heptathlon is allowed to compete in only one other event.

In Class Two, athletes are allowed to compete in three events, instead of four. They are now restricted to two individual events and a relay. Those athletes may also participate in one individual event and two relays. An athlete competing in field events only is allowed to take part in three events.

Class Three boys and girls are allowed to enter two individual events and a relay — the same for Class Four girls.

In the girls’ open events, final-year Class Three athletes can compete alongside Classes One and Two in the 3,000m and the 2,000m steeplechase. The 400m hurdles and the 4x400m relay remain open with no restrictions.

The boys’ open events — the 5,000m and 2,000m steeplechase — are limited to classes one and two only. The decathlon is now Class One only. The pole vault and 4x400m relay remain open without restrictions.

The medley relays remain the same, where Class Two athletes run the 200m and Class One athletes run the 400m and 800m.

The 400m hurdles is no longer an open event. It will now be contested only by athletes in classes one and two.

These changes had resistance from several coaches, saying the move was a backward step, and that the timing was wrong in the middle of the preparation season.

But Forbes thinks otherwise.

“It’s not really the middle of the season. This was sent out from late October to early November [of last year]. But because they did not agree with what we had sent out, that is why we conveyed the meeting on the sixth of December to give them a formal hearing. We heard what they said and we went back to the drawing board and we made some changes,” Forbes noted.

“So it’s not a situation where we decided that we are going to just impose ourselves. We have had dialogue with the coaches just to get it right. We don’t go ahead and do anything without the input of the coaches,” he explained.

“I don’t buy that it’s going to affect anybody. Where we stand, all we want is for the betterment of the students. We want the welfare of the students to come first. Points are not important to us,” he added.