Laurie Foster | ISSA has a role to play in global youth success

Champs 2018 under the auspices of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) should be up and running by the time this is read. After making a determined move last year to cut the workload of athletes at the five-day event, the organisers have started a buzz that is very welcome.

There is talk of having a stronger focus for the elite athletes targeting the World Junior Championships (WJC), now renamed the Under-20 Championships. With the cancellation by the world body of the Under-18 equivalent, the WJC is the sole global event in the sport for athletes at the high school level. The scrapping of the lower age group is becoming a bit worrisome as to date, there has been no announcement of what is being done to promote competition at that level.

Until there is an effort to address the gaping hole, one can only hope that the World Juniors, on its own, will continue to provide the base that the youngsters require to make a smooth transition to the senior ranks.

For this to happen, there has to be evidence of the type of thinking, which is required to facilitate this. That has started with a firm understanding throughout the system that Champs is what it is, but it is not or should not be the end of the story. How can the importance of the World Juniors and the need for the best to be on show there be further emphasised?

Some time ago, there was a suggestion that Champs should be held later in the year, closer to the month of July when the World Under-20 is staged. This was so as it was thought more prudent to have the young athletes peak for Champs and the global event in one cycle, which is not what obtains now. Going that route would also give the athletes more time to prepare and not have that period encumbered by external examinations, which is always a limiting factor.

Pay for coaches

Another fact to be considered is that schools, for the most part, do not pay coaches to supervise athletes after the local season is finished in late April. ISSA should come up with a way to address this shortfall.

Also, ISSA should play a more significant role in marketing the world event and invite their sponsors to log on to that concept. This would be something new and different to those who fund Champs, but it can be a way of adding a positive spin to their corporate profile and not being seen as boarding the winning train after it had gone through all the twists, turns, and bumpy rides that getting to the top usually entails.

There is another tool that Foster's Fairplay believes could be pivotal in giving more well-needed recognition to the WJC. As the ISSA rules now stand, an athlete who transfers from one school under the ISSA umbrella to another, so designated, is forced to sit out a year or meet some other requirement, which is not of concern here. This is so if the athlete desires to compete at Champs for the receiving school. It can serve as useful purpose for an athlete of the elite standard to have this practice continued. In such cases, and if the athlete has distinguished him or herself by medalling at the WJC, any such transfer would be exempt from this encumbrance to natural progression.

The suggested initiatives should be accompanied by further action. ISSA, despite its good work over time, is really an amateur organisation, comprised of the principals of the component schools. It is far too much to expect the group to take on successfully all that is being put on its plate. It should think seriously about taking on a professional image with competent persons in place to take on the extra burden that is being suggested.

The track-and-field product needs to be maintained and supported for the longer haul. It would be folly to think that Champs, with its present construct, has all the answers.

One hopes that ISSA will ponder on these things. Jamaica needs them to step up and make the suggested difference.

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