Well known track and field coach Cal Simons has thrown his support behind Bermuda Track and Field Association and national coach Gerry Swan and has encouraged others to do likewise during the build-up to the CARIFTA Games which the Island will host in April.

A long-serving coach of Pacers Track Club, Simons voiced his concerns over the negative comments made specifically by letter writers to over the BTFA selection process for the CARIFTA team.

He said much of what had been written was unjustified and pointed out that both Bermuda and the sport in general could do without such criticism as the Island prepares for a major event.

?Let?s face it, CARIFTA is a lot bigger than Gerry Swan and BTFA president Judith Simmons, bigger than these letter writers are making it out to be. Everybody is saying this pair need to go but I only see it as negative sign and unfortunately it?s worse than ever because at this time we should be seen as a country doing nothing but encouraging our athletes to get involved,? said Simons.

?The negativity that we are seeing is not going to help our athletes. I think we need to be a lot more positive by getting our kids out to prepare for the event.

?I recall one writer calling himself ?Disappointed Parent? but to this individual I say if you are disappointed it?s up to you to approach somebody in the BTFA and find out what?s going on. If your kid cannot come into the programme by December 15 then give your reasons to the coaches and the association and from the information I?ve been given, it shouldn?t be a major problem.

?I call on the public to drop the negativity and focus on the positive. It will only be a tragic loss for those who have personal gripes against the BTFA to prevent their athletes or children from taking part in CARIFTA.?

Simons embraced the BTFA?s policy of demanding that all aspiring athletes come under the association?s training programme supervised by national coach Swan, something they must do by the deadline of December 15.

This policy has been strongly criticised by letter writers, but Simons pointed out that it was nothing new and was legitimate because it was important to have athletes trained under a recognised and qualified national coach when they were representing their country.

?I have no qualms with that policy at all. I coach my athletes at Pacers but I am not qualified to do so at the national level and Mr. Swan and his coaches are and that?s what I tell my kids,? he added.

?It?s a good policy because you are looking at getting the kids ready for an international event. When you look at the quality of athletes that?s going to be coming here, in order for us to be competitive we need to be well prepared and I certainly don?t have the experience to say that I am going to take an athlete to the next level.

?Track and field may be an individual sport but there still needs to be qualified coaching when it comes to going to a higher level. The athletes need to be around coaches who have the ability to evaluate and determine their needs, what they like and do not like. There is such a lot for the coaches to learn about them in a short space of time.

?It?s important for us as club coaches to provide the national coaches with all of the information that they need about the individual athletes. I may have an athlete who has a problem doing 60 metre repeats or one who is asthmatic or who has some other related medical condition, so it?s vital that this information is passed on to the national coaches by the club coaches.?

Recently Simons said that he talked with former CARIFTA participants from Jamaica and Trinidad who agreed that local athletes needed to work harder to reach their level.

?The athletes from those two particular countries were world class junior athletes and if ours want to be competitive against them, Bermuda needs to ensure that all is well in our national programme. There is no time for negativity,? continued Simons.

?We need to be very honest as club coaches, we need to realise that we can only take them so far and accept the fact that they need to go to the next stage which is to join the national programme.?

He insisted that as coach of Pacers he was doing all he could to have his athletes strive to make the CARIFTA team and pointed out that since such an event of this magnitude had not been held here for many years it gave local athletes a tremendous opportunity to be featured on the international stage in front of home fans.

?I call on all coaches to do the same for their athletes, also school teachers to identify talented athletes to try out for CARIFTA. Let?s give our people the opportunity to experience this great event,? said Simons.

?I have grown tired of some letters to the editor by anonymous people who are offering nothing but negative criticism towards the BTFA and coach Swan and I have a problem when these letter writers do this without identifying themselves. Here we have a minority stirring up things, nothing but negativity.

?Let?s move forward as a nation and have our talented athletes enjoy this moment, let?s play our part by helping them to prepare for this which could be the one chance for several to perform at this level of athletics and a good shot at obtaining glory in track and field.?