Francis slams JAAA selection policy

By Elton Tucker, Asst. Sport Editor

TOP LOCAL coach Stephen Francis has launched a scathing attack on the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association's (JAAA) new selection policy.

Francis, a coach at the University of Technology (UTech), spoke to The Gleaner yesterday while his charges, hurdlers Brigitte Foster, Toni-Ann D'Oyley and Neil Gardener went through their final workouts at the Stadium East warm-up track ahead of tomorrow's start of the three-day National Senior and Junior Athletics Championships.

"I oppose it (the new policy) on a number of bases. Firstly, athletes have been training for months expecting that what would have counted towards making the team is how they placed at the trials and now these athletes are being told that the times they ran before the trials also count," Francis said.

"Different athletes have different styles of preparation some may not have put much emphasis on their early times.

"Secondly, I do not think that the JAAA, as presently constituted, has the competence to evaluate the various factors. Eventually it is going to come down to some ridiculous things like 'he ran faster than him yesterday' without taking into account all the various permutations which can account for performance," he said.

The former Wolmer's Boys coach whose Air Jamaica MVP Track Club topped last weekend's Lasco Club championships with 325 points added he thought the system which former president Teddy McCook instituted a number of years ago has been working very well and in that time the island's performances on the international stage had improved gradually to the point where Jamaica is now 'pretty much' in the top five in the world.

"The timing of it is extremely wrong and the policy itself cannot be properly implemented by the current JAAA administration. These are the people who left Lisa Sharpe off the CARIFTA team because they heard somebody say she is injured. I can imagine the same would happen at the senior level," Francis said.

Last Thursday, the JAAA announced a new selection policy for international meets. It said the first two in events at the National Championships will be automatically selected while the third competitor will be selected on the basis of 'all the other considerations' as assessed by the executive. In past years the top three in most track events were automatic selections.

Back to Sport