Athlete Manager Cubie Seegobin is urging the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to be more proactive in positioning itself at the centre of a collaborative thrust to stage more local meets.

The Guyanese-born Seegobin, while championing the importance of athlete development, argued that Jamaica’s rich history in track and field, coupled with its reputation for hosting meets that earn global respect, make it an attractive option for local and international competitors.

“I would like to see, you know, more meetings in Jamaica because I think it serves a purpose,” he said during an exclusive sit down with the Jamaica Observer.

“We have great officials, we have great administrators, we have the timing system. Our times are legit: nobody ever questions the times in Jamaica, because the athletes run them outside of Jamaica. So I would think — and I’ve discussed with Coach [Maurice] Wilson — having more meets in Jamaica, I mean, we can sit down and come up with a formula.

“There [are] certain places you can run in America and people question the times, and they say to you ‘come and run it in Europe’. I’ve never heard anybody question a Jamaican time, because they know we don’t play with clocks,” said Seegobin, a renowned name in athlete management and track and field meet promotion.

“The JAAA has tried — they’ve offered prize money to some of the meetings last year and this year. But we need more meets every weekend, so that we can develop our athletes here and then give them the stepping stone to be able to go outside and run. And it’s proven; look at the times we are running in Jamaica, whether it’s Elaine [Thompson-Herah], whether it’s the young, up-and-coming athletes, the high school kids. That’s what I would say to the JAAA, is that we need more local meets,” he told journalists.

Wilson, the Sprintec Track Club head coach who has served as the national team technical leader at major championships, supported the call.

He noted that this season’s Jubilee Series, with significant funding coming from the State-run Sport Development Foundation, is a prime example of the potential of meaningful partnerships.

“We have seen now with the Jubilee Series where there is this collaboration with the Ministry of Sport and so on,” Wilson said.

“We need to build on this marketing… the amount of views… I think 120,000 person were [watching] online, so what we’re doing here, we’re reaching across the world. And so, about additional meets, I think this is one area that the JAAA can look to.

“They have started, but they need now to make sure it is almost perfected, because the entire world is looking at when a meet is put on in Jamaica. So from that perspective, I do believe that there are areas that need improvement,” he said.

Wilson pointed out, however, that the Garth Gayle-led JAAA has to match its peers globally and become a professionally-run entity if it is to effectively move forward.

“I must congratulate the president because he’s someone who is willing to sit at the table and you can have a discussion with him. However, moving forward, there have to be changes, generally speaking, right through the framework of track and field for us to keep abreast of what is happening in the sport,” he said.

In response, President Gayle said he welcomed the partnerships, while noting the JAAA’s running of the Destiny Series last year, and the Jubilee Series. Still, he said the JAAA “would like to do more than that” and promised that other meet initiatives are in the pipeline.

The JAAA is preparing to host the National Championships this month, which will help to select teams for the World Championships in Oregon, United States from July 15-24, and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, from July 28-August 8.