The National Association of Athletics Administrations of T&T (NAAATT) conducted the fourth series of its ongoing Coaches’ Workshop-Seminars on Saturday at the Media Conference Room, Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain.
Among the attendees were series director, Jehue Gordon - the 2013 world champion in the 400 hurdles metres - and Grace Jackson, the 1988 Seoul Olympic 200m silver medalist and the current Director of Sports at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in St Augustine.
The event involved coaches from across the country through in-person and online sessions, with the first of these being facilitated by John “Slim” Andalcio, a well-known World Athletics lecturer, coach and technical official, who reviewed the new competition rules and their implications for the preparation of athletes and their participation in competitions, especially at the international level.
Dr Anyl Gopeesingh, who often serves as the national team doctor, conducted the second session and focused on the area in which he specializes, sports medicine. The chairman of NAAATT’s Medical and Sports Science Committee brought the live and virtual attendees up to speed on the latest information on developments in doping, testing and also provided clarification on pertinent issues.
NAAATT’s president, George Comissiong, was the next facilitator and gave a presentation on safeguarding and its implications for the way the coaches - and by extension clubs – operated, by drawing on his extensive experience as an administrator and team manager to provide practical examples of common safeguarding breaches and strategies for avoiding them.
The after-lunch segment was an open forum in which participants were allowed to raise any issue of concern, review the 2023 competition season and make recommendations for 2024.
Participants were very pleased with the initiative as it allowed active engagement and implored the NAAATT to have similar sessions on a more regular basis.
