MAURICE Wilson, technical director for the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), has called for more professional services to be made available to the track and field athletes if they are to focus more on their core duties of training and competing.

Too often athletes have had to waste time and limited resources in seeking professional services such as those of chiropractors and sports psychologists to help them perform better, and Wilson predicts that if the services were provided by the JAAA then there could be improvements up to fourfold in performances at major championships.

Wilson was responding to a question at last Thursday’s online panel discussion hosted by The Olympians Association of Jamaica (OAJ) under the theme ‘Keeping your competitive edge during the pandemic’. He admitted that the JAAA had made some efforts, but said more still needs to be done in that area.

“In order for any athlete to be a success at the elite level, there needs to be a support group or team of professionals specifically trained for certain areas to assist in their performance,” Wilson told the Jamaica Observer in a subsequent interview on Friday.

“There should be a chiropractor for example, sports psychologist, nutritionist, weight trainer, fitness expert and, depending on the level, a lawyer, etc. It is important that these human personnel are in place so the athlete’s central focus is on training and competition,” he emphasised. “A lot of times we see athletes doing so many [other] things, which are not their core [functions]…”

On Thursday’s programme he pointed out that the bigger, more resourced clubs have access to these services but it was only when the national team was away at major championships that the other athletes had access to these important tools.

“Jamaica needs to move to this level,” he said.

The head coach for Sprintec Track Club and principal of G C Foster Sports College argued that the expertise should not be difficult to get. “The JAAA can solicit the expertise of various different professionals; as a matter of fact a number of them would have contributed to the athletes’ development,” through the years.

“What we need to do is to have a team of local experts who are either funded to do what they have to do or by volunteerism, and if this is put in place I have no doubt we can quadruple our performances that we have accomplished over recent years – [and] I am not talking about the Usain Bolt kind of performances, but our general performance in all disciplines.”

— Paul Reid