MONTEGO BAY, St James – At least two top coaches have agreed that with the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) pushing a head with plans to organise a national high schools track and field championships next year, it would be prudent for the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA) to stage Western Championships as well.

The ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) were cancelled earlier this year due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Since March, there have not been any high school sporting events, but ISSA has started to plan for the resumption of sports, if given the green light to go ahead by the Government.

Stephen Smith, the president of COCAA, told the Jamaica Observer West that his organisation could stage an event, “not necessarily a championship as we are used to—points will not be important, but we need to give the athletes a chance to compete.”

Reynaldo Walcott and Roderick Myles, the head coaches of the St Elizabeth Technical boys’ and Rusea’s High girls’ teams, respectively, both agree with Smith, arguing that the staging of Western Champs is important.

Smith said that with the organisers of Champs appearing to be leaning towards making changes to the usual format of the meet, at least in the short term because of the pandemic, COCAA should do something similar.

“We are prepared to have Western Champs but maybe not a ‘championship’ but an opportunity for the athletes to compete,” he told the Observer West earlier this week, adding that there are several options that could be looked at.

“We could limit the numbers of athletes per team, but if there are limited opportunities for the athletes to qualify for the ISSA Champs we have to make sure we give those athletes who have been training even through the pandemic a chance,” he argued.

“If it is that they decided on a one-day meet where athletes would compete just once in each event and not rounds, then a proper venue will be very important, then we have to look at having it on a synthetic surface. If we are not sure that the athletes will have another chance to qualify for Champs, and we can’t assume they will, then we must do the best thing for them,” he reasoned.

He added that a decision would have to be taken by COCAA whether they will cut some of the events that are usually contested.

“We could look back at the results of the past few years and we might even need to seed athletes from events earlier or from last year, so there are lots of logistics to be looked at,” said Smith.

Walcott is in full agreement with the staging of Western Champs.

“I think we should go ahead with our championship, however way possible, and we should consult with members and then come to a consensus, and if that means we have to push it back and get better dates and venues, we should be open to all the possibilities,” he argued.

Myles, who said while Rusea’s High will not be seeking to retain their girls’ title, “keeping Western Champs is very important, it doesn’t have to be the same format, but I think it is important to keep it as long as we can follow the health protocols.”

“The students need to compete and we must find ways to get them to compete, especially the older ones who will be leaving school this [academic] year and who might be seeking scholarships. For me, I don’t think we will be putting together a team to challenge for the honours as it is too short a time and you run the risk of injuries,” he told the Observer West.

The Rusea’s coach said that for those senior athletes who will be seeking to make the Jamaica team to the World Athletics Under-20 Championships to be held in Nairobi, Kenya in August, and those who have ambitions of getting scholarships to colleges, they should get the chance to compete, adding that based on what is going on internationally, others are getting ready to compete as well.