NACAC chief says barring any further setbacks, the event will come off

Addressing concerns from the media during a special discussion and presentation through a Zoom meeting on Saturday, Mike Sands, the Bahamian president of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC), said that it is their intention to be progressive, putting plans in motion and addressing pressing matters with various local organizing committees going forward.

For the first time in history, the CARIFTA Games was canceled, due to the widespread nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus took the world by storm in 2020, ceasing sports and shaking up the competitive atmosphere in a number of disciplines in sport throughout the world.

The NACAC region was not exempted, forced to cancel one of its premier junior athletic competitions for the first time in its 48th year history. The 49th version, which was set for 2020, will now be held April 3-5, 2021, still at the Bermuda National Sports Centre in Hamilton, Bermuda. Prior to this year, it was held annually over the Easter holiday weekend.

Sands said as they creep up on the 50th anniversary of the event, their intention is to be more accommodating and facilitating to the various stakeholders of the CARIFTA Games including the media. For now, barring any further setbacks from COVID-19, “everything is a go” for CARIFTA 2021 in Bermuda.

“Well, of course we’re guided by everything that is happening throughout the world as it relates to COVID-19, but there is no question that we plan to go ahead with CARIFTA 2021 in Bermuda,” said Sands. “The most painful thing that we had to do this year was to postpone the event because we tried to push it as far as we could. We were seriously challenged by that, but there are plans to continue for 2021.”

Sands and his team came into office in the summer of 2019. Immediately on their agenda were the 2019 NACAC Championships and the 2019 World Athletics Championships, in which he was introduced to the council of World Athletics as the area representative for NACAC, followed shortly afterwards.

Sports came to a complete and abrupt halt in 2020.

Sands said despite the stoppage of physical activities and in-person meetings, they have been progressive in terms of pushing their agenda forward. He is still in the first full year of a three-year term as NACAC president.

“We have taken advantage of this limited opportunity in terms of what COVID did to us to redirect our strategic plan,” said Sands. “We’ve been having webinars and there is a lot of communication going on, on a weekly basis, meeting with each member federation individually to hear what their concerns are. We are doing various things and taking advantage of what is happening. While we have not physically had activities, we have virtually had a number of meetings and activities.”

Sands said at times, his scheduled Zoom meetings would go on for an entire day, stating that the work of NACAC is very detailed and progressive. He said that they are looking at doing a special for the 50th anniversary of the CARIFTA Games, set for 2022, in Leonora, Guyana. For now, the NACAC executive team is forging ahead with CARIFTA 2021 in Hamilton, Bermuda.

Be that as it may, COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc throughout the world, attacking a number of countries and territories with a second wave of infection. Bermuda, the host of CARIFTA 2021, is one of the least infected nations in the world with just 185 total cases – only four of which are active. Worldwide, there are 40.5 million cases up to press time last night, and over 1.1 million deaths.

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