THE sport governing body for track and field in Saint Lucia, the Saint Lucia Athletic Association, one of the oldest affiliated bodies with the International Association of Athletics Federations has come under fire again; just days after world ranked high jumper Levern Spencer captured the gold medal at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Championship (NACAC) which took place in Toronto, Canada.
At present, the current composition of the depleted SLAA executive looks like this: Andrew Magloire- President Titus Elien- 2nd Vice President, Rena Samuel- Floor Representative and Rochelle Jn Baptiste- Secretary.
Roderick Cherry – 1st Vice President (Vote of no confidence was moved against him thus he is no longer an executive member, Brendaline Descartes – Assistant Secretary (Resigned), Terry Finisterre – Treasure (Resigned), Gimry Lewis-Floor Representative (Resigned) and Dane Magloire – Public Relations Officer (Medical leave).
Head Coach of the Survivors track and field club Cuthbert Modeste has openly expressed his disappointment and dissatisfaction with the day to day running of the depleted SLAA executive.
Despite carnival (ole mas) has long gone, Modeste was seen in full view of the public carrying a placard which reads “Keep track and field clean, get rid of the President” he was at the time referring to the SLAA president Andrew Magloire.
Modeste a former 800 and 1500 metre runner in the good old days of the national track and field individual championship, popularly known as the M&C Games told the VOICE, “He has to go; his goal is to divide the various stakeholders (coaches and athletes) in the sport. We have moved 30 years backward”.
“If you have any difference with him on a particular issue pertaining to track and field especially when you opposed him, he wants to hate you for life. As human beings, that’s not good for the sport”.
He said, “You writing to the SLAA on a particular issue pertaining/affecting track and field, they are not answering, you not getting a reply, they ignoring you”. Why?
“One of the reasons that really had me to go out in public and ask him to step down was the whole issue about Levern Spencer representing Saint Lucia at the recently held North American, Central American and Caribbean championship in Canada. You mean to tell me, the President of NACAC had to call to find out why Spencer who is the defending champion is not in Canada, only for the SLAA President to say, the Association don’t have any money. I believe the SLAA had enough time to write to the government or the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee for financial assistance, but at the end it took the government and SLOC to make it possible for her to compete”.
I am the coach for the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games 100 metre gold medal winner in the Bahamas Julien Alfred, now all of a sudden the SLAA President want to put a rift between the two of us saying, I am not her coach. I started coaching Alfred from the time she was 9 years old.
“There was no club relay championship this year, including a few of the twilight meets, and to add insult to the wounds; we having meets starting way beyond the scheduled time; no equipment to train, it’s just crazy, he don’t have the interest of the athletes at heart, it’s like he just taking revenge”.
According to Modeste, the SLAA President has made comments such as, “As long as he is president, Cuthbert Modeste not leaving Saint Lucia with any national team”.
Since qualifying as an IAAF Level 2 coach in 1996, Modeste has coached the following elite athletes -MakebaAlcide, Julien Alfred, Rochelle Etienne, JeannelleScheper, Cornie Lionel, Rosen Daniel, Shannick Leon and Lenny Leonce, just to name a few.
“I am there to develop track and field, and not for my personal reason, if it was for my personal development, I will not be involved because I am not getting anything for what I am doing. It’s the love for the sport that has me going”.
“Can you imagine the track and field coaches association presented my name to the SLAA for the CAC and World Juniors, they remove my name, it’s a clear indication that it’s a personal grudge they have against me, but only time will tell”.
Meanwhile, most recently, a former president of the SLAA and now Saint Lucia Olympic Committee, General Secretary, Alfred Emmanuel called on affiliates to allow good sense to prevail and work for the betterment of the sport locally, as things have gotten worse within their ranks.
Emmanuel, who has served in every capacity of the SLAA executive said, “It’s over three years, I have been watching, listening and reading about developments in the Association and I believe the time has come to make a few comments.”
“Good sense must prevail if we want to regain the trust of people, Corporate Saint Lucia and long-standing associates of the SLAA.”
“There will always be disagreements and misunderstandings, but I have always cautioned members to sort them out, and away from the public domain.” He noted.
Emmanuel said, “There was a call for change and change — there was that change, but it now appears that the advocates for such change brought nothing of substance to the table.”
“From attending meetings and listening to the discourse, it is clear that most of those elected to serve in the current leadership have lost their way non-functioning, or have resigned, even those who were on the “Change Brigade” had or have very little to offer the current leadership, so they can better place our association on a stronger footing going forward.”
With a deep sense of concern, he said, “This cannot be good for our organisation.”
