Athletics: Barbados planning exchange programme with Jamaica

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

Minister of Sport Charles Griffith said the government of Barbados plans to engage with its colleagues in Jamaica to enhance the standard of training and coaching of the sport of track and field in the island.

Griffith said he had discussions with Jamaica's Minister of Sport Olivia Grange, and officials in Bridgetown and Kingston will work on developing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to facilitate the exchange of expertise.

"I was at a conference last week in Washington and had a sit-down with Minister Grange," Griffith said during a constituency meeting of the governing Barbados Labour Party on Sunday.

"They have worked with Trinidad in terms of developing the coaches there... and the permanent secretary is to check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because Minister Grange said they had sent back an MOU between Jamaica and us to exchange coaches, and to be able to work with them in terms of how we develop."

World 400 metres bronze medallist Sada Williams currently trains with the Maximising Velocity & Power (MVP) club under iconic coach Stephen Francis in Jamaica.

Griffith said the ministry had helped another athlete with an attachment to the same club, but he said the island needed to have quality coaches to be able to develop performers to world-class standards.

"I won't push it at this meeting, but I'm concerned with the level of coaches," he said. "My thing is that if you're going to have a world-class athlete, you must match that athlete with a world-class coach, so this is one of the initiatives I have working with Jamaica.

"So, I'm looking to see how we can have that marriage, where we can fuse resources together in terms of working with Jamaica to develop the athletes on the island."

In terms of infrastructural development, Griffith said the redevelopment of the national stadium was still on the cards, but he gave no further details.

He also disclosed that work will begin this week on transforming the open-air national netball arena to an indoor multi-discipline facility for that sport, basketball, and volleyball.