Make risk assessments a priority - Franklyn

Former government senator and attorney-at-law, Delano Franklyn, on Friday urged coaches and schools to make risk assessments a priority in the carrying out of their functions, as based on international trends, lawsuits being filed by athletes or their parents, have now become par for the course in sports.

Speaking at the inaugural University of Technology Coaches Conference held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston, Franklyn, in making his recommendations said in recent times there have been several incidents and reports of neglect on the part of schools and coaches, and if steps are not to taken to address these, they could be taken to court.

"Coaches, schools, I urge you to take risk management very, very seriously," he said while addressing the conference, which is slated to become an annual event on the sporting calendar.

"Internationally more and more coaches are being sued by athletes, and this has been, and will become moreso in Jamaica. We are going to have more and more people seeking out their legal rights with regards to negligence and duty of care," he added.

Risk Management

Some of the incidents that Franklyn referred throughout his presentation, which was aptly titled "Risk Management", included the recent banning of schools from participating in the just-concluded ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletic Championships, in which a few parents sought the assistance of the public defender.

He also spoke of allegations of Edwin Allen's outstanding middle-distance runner Ristananna Tracey competing in a multitude of events in a bid to help her school win the girls section of the championships, and that boys champions Jamaica College allowed key athlete Waquar DaCosta to run throughout the championship despite carrying an obvious injury.

"Where is the duty of care? Isn't that over-work?" Franklyn asked the gathering which included individuals and institutions of local repute.

lawsuits

Franklyn, who is also chairman of the Asafa Powell Foundation, also pointed to other incidents that could have resulted in lawsuits.

These include reports that goalposts and lack of supervision may have resulted in the death of a primary and a preparatory student earlier this year, and the Stephen Francis/Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce non-performance enhancing drugs fiasco, which had the potential to let her lose "millions of dollars".

The presentation, which drew applause from the gathering after its completion, however, was not all about identifying problems, as Franklyn had a few suggestions to combat the potential risks.

These include coaches having someone close to the team take responsibility for risk assessments and management, schools developing a risk assessment management policy, and for coaches and schools having access to a lawyer so that "if anything" they can know what their rights are.

- J.L.