BSSAC ready to roll

IT is full steam ahead for the 2020 edition of the Powerade Barbados Secondary Schools’ Athletic Championships (BSSAC). With the annual competition set to get off the ground on Tuesday, all the latest updates were given during a sponsors event which was held at Harrison College on Friday.

With the BSSAC Organising Committee conceptualising the event in a bid to give the sponsors a better opportunity to engage with the athletes on a more intimate basis before the meet, it was revealed that this year was proving to be a bit more challenging than in the past. Meet Director Dave Small noted that with the National Primary Schools’ Athletic Championships (NAPSAC) making a move back to the National Stadium this year and running their semi-finals on Monday, it provided a logistical challenge as they kicked off on Tuesday and both meets used completely different meet management infrastructures and systems.

He did mention that there would be a change to the format of the meet this year as it related to the Triple Jump event. “Our programme this year is basically the same except that we have placed the Triple Jump, which never happened in the zones before, in the zones so that athletes who are triple jumpers would not be disadvantaged as far as qualifying for Carifta Games is concerned since BSSAC is a qualifying meet for Carifta. However, the BSSAC finals fall outside of the time for qualifying, so we have introduced the Triple Jump into the zone so the triple jumpers will have another bite at the cherry,” he explained. Small added that they would also be introducing a bragging rights tug-of-war, which would run from prelims in the zones to the finals.

Speaking during the opening of Friday’s session, Organising Committee Member Juanita Wade stated that sponsors remained vital to the continued success of the meet. “The contribution of our sponsors cannot be underplayed. It is your contributions – especially the monetary contributions – that make BSSAC possible. Your involvement also signals the importance of Track and Field to Barbados on a whole and I am glad that we have representatives of the students here with us, so that they can see that this is not an event that is pulled off easily. It is one that requires the co-operation of many players and of course the sponsors are important,” she said.

Wade, who also wears the hat of President of the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools as she leads Harrison College, said that her organisation was thankful to the National Sports Council for the work done on the Stadium track. “We are grateful for the repairs which were done to the National Stadium. We are also grateful that our track and field teams and clubs were allowed to go back to the Stadium to do their training because we recognise that it is not just what we do in our schools, but for those that belong to the clubs, it is the bedrock of what makes the national athlete,” she said, adding that she expects solid performances to take them to greater heights.

Committee Member Andrew Brathwaite said that the aim this year was to make the meet more about the students and athletes participating and that they had adopted a special needs policy. He noted that they recognised that there were students with potential in special needs schools, but did not have the opportunity to compete at this level. “We have agreed that we will reach out to special needs schools and bring some of the athletes into the mainstream for competition. So this year for the first time, BSSAC will have the Derrick Smith Secondary School as one of the schools competing in the zonal competition,” he said, noting that there were two students taking part this year, with plans to bring in more schools in the future.

Representing the title sponsors, Keito Forde of the Barbados Bottling Company said that his company remains committed to the meet as it continues to bring out the best in young Barbadians. “The BSSAC Committee partnership has been in existence for over 35 years, with several of our brands providing resolute support for these Championships. We believe that this partnership has continued to provide a positive platform for our young athletes to showcase their talents and many of these athletes have gone on to represent our great island at international meets and even at the Olympics,” he said.

Sponsors for this year’s Championships are Powerade, Sol Barbados, Insurance Corporation of Barbados, Chefette, Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity, City of Bridgetown Co-operative Credit Union, Co-operators General Insurance, Signia Globe, Wibisco, Armstrong Agencies, Barbados Teachers’ Credit Union, Royal Commonwealth Society, CineStream, Laboratory and Sports, BSL Athletics, C2A Sports, Digicel, Made It Against the Odds Foundation, Tropical Computers, Julie’s Party Rentals and Goddard’s Catering Flight Kitchen. (MP)