The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) president Mike Sands said their selection committee did everything possible, including consulting with the personal coaches of the elite athletes, to ensure that the Bahamas assembled the best team for the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015.

In the aftermath of the relays held at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium May 2-3 when the Bahamas picked up a silver medal in the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay and finished 10th overall in the point standings, Sands said everybody was aware of the criteria and were advised of the selection process.

“At the beginning of the year, all of the athletes were notified that we will be looking at the top six performances for relay pools,” said Sands of the Bahamas’ team that comprised both the men and women 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 metre relays. “That was the criteria and everyone understood.”

Sands, however, said there was some lengthy discussions between the BAAA, the selecion committee and some of the personal coaches, who had indicated prior to the meet that athletes such as Anthonique Strachan, Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson and Shanuae Miller will only be available to compete in the women’s 4 x 200m.

“Sometimes, unfortunately, we have to accept what the coaches say and go with what their plans are for the athletes,” Sands said. “However, looking at that scenario, it is the World Relays and I think we missed a golden opportunity to be able to qualify for the Olympic Games and the World Championships.

“Notwithstanding the coaches’ plans, we would like to think and hope that, a part of their plan in getting ready for the World Championships, that all of the athletes under their tutelage would be at peak performance to be able to perform in all of the events that are contested by the Bahamas.”

While Sands said that while it was disappointing that the BAAA was not able to bring home all of the top elite athletes to compete on the men’s side, they made every effort to get the top women who were here to compete in the other events, but the decision was out of their hands.

“There’s nothing much you can do when that happens,” said Sands about the coaches’ decisions. “You just have to work with the athletes that you have and I want to commend all of the athletes who came home and those who competed in whatever events they competed in.”

Another athlete, Lanece Clarke, commended the BAAA for affording her the oppottunity to be selected to the pools for both the 4 x 200 and the 4 x 400. While her intention was to run on the 4 x 200 team, she wasn’t given the opportunity and she didn’t contest the 4 x 400.

“It is always the intention of the management and the administration of the BAAA executives to field our best team because when we represent the country, we want to have the best team wherever possible,” he stated. “In the case of Lanece, we had discussions in a conference call with her coach, who indicated that she was only available for the 4 x 200.

“We indicated to her that having the second fastest time among our 400m runners, we would have really wished for her to be a part of the 4 x 400 metre team and her coach was emphatic that she was only prepared to run the 4 x 200. The major part of the executives and the management team had her coach on a conference call like we did with the other personal coaches and it was made clear that she was only coming to run the 4 x 200.”

Having missed the opportunity for both the men and women 4 x 100 and the women’s 4 x 400 teams qualified for the IAAF World Relays in Beijing, China in August and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, Sands said the BAAA will now have to find meets for the teams to compete in so that they can qualify.

But, at the same time, Sands said they will have to also find a way to instill more “national pride” in the athletes who are on subvention to be able to compete in events where there is a thrust to qualify for the international events.

“It’s not just our own local coaches, but there are some coaches in the US where are athletes are based, who tell us that the relays don’t make any money for the athletes or there is a risk of the athletes getting hurt, but I had to tell one of the coaches that you can get hurt in practice or you can get hurt when you are competing in an individual event too,” Sands said.

“I think someone needs to tell Mike Sands what do I need to do or what the BAAA needs to do, short of getting out there and running ourselves, if the athletes and the coaches refuse to let the athletes compete in events that we need them to compete in.”

By not finishing in the top eight in the 4 x 1 and 4 x 4 relays, the BAAA will now have to find meets for the teams to compete in so that the Bahamas can have the additional teams join the men’s 4 x 4 that has qualified for both the World Championships and the Olympics by virtue of their consecutive silver medal performance behind the gold-medal winning United States over the past two World Relays.

“Now we have to be in the top 16 in order to qualify for the World Championhips and the Olympic Games, whereby here at home, the incentive for the countries to send their athletes to compete in the relay is the fact that the finalists automatically qualify for the World Championships and the Olympics.

“If we have to consistently say that, then something is wrong. The easiest way to get to the World Championships and the Olympics was to come home and run in the World Relays, make the finals and you’re in. We could be in the top 15 tomorrow, but by the final weekend of qualifying at the end of June, a country could come and knock us out. But if we made the finals at the World Relays, no one can knock us out.”

With sports now a big business, Sands said it appears as if the national interest is not always placed at the forefront.

“You can’t teach national pride, but I’ve always held the view that other than serving your God, one of the most privileged things you can do is to serve your country,” said Sands, a former quarter-miler who represented the Bahamas at a number of major international meets.

“If I have to force somebody to represent their country, which is the highest honour ever, then it’s a problem. One of the ways we can mitigate against this is to revisit the subvention programme because at the end of the day, if the government of the Bahamas, through the people of the Bahamas are subventing these athletes, then they must have a little more obligation towards national representation with those funds that are invested in me.”

Moving forward, Sands said maybe the time has come for the government to subvent the athletes based on their performances.

“I can tell you that the subvention programme is presently under review and it’s not just under review to disenfranchise anybody,” he said. “All we are trying to do is to put our best foot forward with the resources that we have available, so that we can be like the United States, who had just about all of their top athletes here.

“I would have thought that performing here at home would have been sufficient motivation for our athletes. I talked to a number of our top elite athletes who were missing, as well as their coaches, about the importance of coming home to compete. But not all of them were here and some of them who did come did not compete in events that we had a chance to qualify for the World Championships and the Olympic Games.”