The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Since taking over as the new executive board, general secretary Keith Joseph said the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) has been functioning very well under the leadership of Mike Sands.

Sands, a former public relations officer and president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, was elected as the fourth president of NACAC on July 2, 2019 in Queretaro, Mexico.

He replaced Professional Victor Lopez from Puerto Rico, who served from 2013-2019. Prior to Lopez, the late Neville McCook from Jamaica held the prestigious post from 2007-2013. McCook preceded the initial president, Amado Francis, who served from 1988-2007.

Joseph, who hails from St Vincent and the Grenadines, was in town last week following the NACAC New Life Invitational held in Miramar, Florida.

During his visit, he and Sands paid courtesy calls on the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, National Sports Authority and the BAAA. He also sat down with The Tribune in the new NACAC office at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium to discuss the work and operation of NACAC and the way forward under the new administration.

• Here’s the first part of the series:

How is the new administration functioning so far?

“I think we have been doing very well. We have strong leadership,” Joseph said. “Mike is a hard task master. From very early, we have agreed to a formal restructuring of the organisation.

“World Athletics have allowed council members to have a different approach to their relationship with executives of the area associations, we are now more focused on the Council so it will now include the members who are sitting on the World Athletics Council so that whenever we meet, we meet as a Council.”

Those World Athletics’ Council Members who will now sit on the NACAC meetings are Alberto Juantorena from Cuba, Willie Banks from the United States and Abby Hoffman from Canada.

“We have also established a series of commissions,” according to Joseph. “We have an Athletes Commission, a Competition Development Government and Anti-Doping.

“We have also created the Gender Leadership Working Group, the Constitutional Review Working Group, the Sports Journalist Working Group and a NACAC Circuit Working Group. We have a good spread of personnel from the member federations on these commissions, which are all working. There is not one that is not functional.”

Up to last year, Joseph said their general meetings with the membership were held monthly, but this year they have decided to stage them every two months.

“At the Council Meeting, all of the heads of the Commissions attend, so they can give their reports,” he revealed. “At the information sessions, they develop their reports to the general membership and they are there to respond to questions from the general membership.

The general membership feel as though they are in the know about everything that is happening in the organization.”

Additionally, they have created the Weekend NACAC, which informs everybody as to where we are with each member federation, but the challenge is that not all member federations respond on a timely basis.

“The good thing is that the members federations are having competition, so they can report what has taken place,” he stated.

A Governance Commission has also been established, which will address challenges by the member federations, like Haiti and Aruba, who are having some problems with their electoral process and are faced with having to conduct new elections.

“We had a challenge with El Salvador and Mexico pertaining to their elections and we are confronting those challenges and we are also offering constitutional reviews and other support to member federations,” he stressed.

Joseph revealed that all of the changes being made in the NACAC constitution are to put NACAC in line with the changes that have been made to World Athletics’ constitution under its president Lord Sebastian Coe.

And although the world has been hit by the coronavirus pandemic, Joseph said it’s been a blessing in disguise because NACAC Council Members are now engaged in what’s going on.

“It’s virtual, so we can meet as often as possible. Everybody gets calls just about everyday and it’s the same thing with the general membership because we are virtual,” he proclaimed.

“Suddenly, everybody is enthused about getting information, so it has brought us closer together. No Member Association can’t say that they don’t know what’s happening in NACAC because they are always in the know.”

If there’s one regret that NACAC has experienced so far, Joseph said it’s been the two postponements and subsequently the cancellation of this year’s Carifta Games for its junior athletes in the region.

“But the one thing they can be assured of is that it’s not just happening to them. It’s the same thing globally that everybody is experiencing,” Joseph pointed out.

“Because we are dealing with children, we know that parents won’t be comfortable with member federations suggesting to them that we are taking your children into areas that you yourself are afraid of traveling.”

NACAC did, however, host the New Life Invitational and Joseph will explain that process and the future suggestions for Carifta in the second part of the series on Wednesday.