Dear Sir,

After reading a letter to Sports Mailbox on Friday, November 28, I could not resist the opportunity to voice a few concerns of my own.

May I first agree with "Disappointed Parent". I honestly feel that now is the time to speak out against many of the problems that the BTFA have. Yes, I said many problems. Bermuda incidentally is hosting CARIFTA after almost 20 years and for those of you who do not know, we are among the founders of this event.

April is only five months away and despite what the BTFA are reporting, they are likely to embarrass themselves and Bermuda.

The BTFA called a meeting with all parents and athletes on the final day of school in June. No one has been officially kept abreast with what is going on since then. No meeting, to my knowledge, has been called with the club coaches to verify those athletes being put forward for the Games next year. It appears they are waiting to see who turns up for the December 15 deadline set by the national coach.

Disappointed Parent asked if we are going to have the best athletes representing Bermuda. Well it is becoming crystal clear that the thinking of the governing body is that we have a team. Just a team. How many potential medal winners are going to be included? This type of retarded thinking is just that, retarded thinking at its very best.

Disappointed Parent goes on to say that the powerhouse countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad will be included in the 26 country line-up. These athletes are coming here to take all. They also have people living here who will be cheering for who? Surely not our athletes!

Therefore it is vital that we select our best team possible and put all the backward thinking behind us. If the BTFA are hoping, and I say if, that by picking students from our middle and high schools with little experience of track events, what do you think will happen?

Disappointed Parent said the last National Championships were two hours behind schedule. Well, if you witnessed it, you could only describe it as total chaos, despite there only being a handful of athletes. Yes, the athletes do deserve better. I doubt very seriously whether the group who control the BTFA have any long term vision for our athletes. There are many talented athletes available at the various track clubs.

Most clubs already have qualified coaches and relate to their athletes better than anybody else. It has been noted that one of the coaches in the programme is not qualified thus setting a double standard by the BTFA. In reality this individual is a valuable asset but so are many others.

The BTFA needs to appreciate every club coach and their staff's efforts that clearly overshadow Gerry Swan and Judy Simmons. If not for them, God knows a bad situation will become worse. We have lost many potential stars in the past and we must ask ourselves why. Perhaps some of the answers lie in poor organisation, lack of vision, no communication with our clubs, lousy advertising, contradictory view points and minimal effort to structure school programmes. These all seem to be the trademark of the BTFA.

Please do not view this as criticism without the offer of help. The track and field fraternity knows as well as anyone that if help is offered, for some unknown reason it is sarcastically turned down. Believe you me, there are many who can attest to that.

Minister Butler appears to be trying to help. But is the BTFA being totally honest with him? Time will tell. However, even with his reluctance there is coming a time when he will have to become more involved. The minister has already appointed $700,000 of the taxpayers' hard earned cash to an organisation which is in my judgement incompetent. Their chances of raising the funds for this event are virtually nil. The BTFA probably wishes that hosting CARIFTA will just go away.

So when Disappointed Parent said last week that Gerry Swan needed to resign, I could not agree more. Perhaps the only thing he failed to say was: drag Judy Simmons with him. If you notice, all she ever seems to talk about is her acceptance with international organisations.

I'll close with this: to Gerry and Judy, if you are doing a good job, it shows. If you are doing a lousy job, it shows. Sporting public, you be the judge!

DISAPPOINTED PARENT II