By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

The cancellation of the 2024 Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) track and field meet has sparked outrage from members of the public the past three days.

In the midst of the latest debacle, Drumeco Archer, president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, (BAAA) has reached out to the BAISS Conference of Principals to find a sound resolution that does not involve the cancellation of the highly anticipated meet.

He told reporters yesterday at a press briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister that the BAAAs is doing all that they can to ensure the show goes on.

“The BAAAs is responsible for facilitating track and field and, in any way we can help, we will always be at the front line. The reality is the BAISS conference is a private entity and so they have unfettered powers to do as they wish. “However, we take the view that it is perhaps the most important track and field meet, at the high school level, on the competition calendar and we are doing all that we can to see how we can problem solve and find the best solutions to ensure that BAISS 2024 does take place,” Archer said.

Tribune Sports had first reported that the meet could be delayed or postponed and was reportedly recommended to be cancelled due to dates that conflicted with the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) track and field meet set for February 28 to March 1.

According to Archer, the dates for the calendar were discussed from September 4 between stake- holders to ensure that everyone was on the same page. However, the BAAA president said the scheduling issues may have been the cause of the controversy.

“There are two primary conferences - the GSSSA which is the public school conference and BAISS which is the private school conference - and on a rotational basis, each conference has the first right to choose its dates. This year it was the GSSSA and they exercised the choice of choosing a date of February 28 to March 1. I think that is where the controversy began because those were the same dates that were desired by BAISS and they could not have those dates because GSSSA had the first right to choose,” the BAAA president said.

The three-day inter-school meet was initially slated for February 15-17 but, according to reports, a change was requested in mid- January after the date of the CARIFTA Trials were switched from March 6-8 to March 15-17.

The BAISS contingent then opted to secure the March 6-8 date but, due to the closeness of the new date to the CARIFTA Trials, some schools were not on board with those plans. These chain of events culminated with the eventual cancellation of the track and field, garnering negative attention from the public.

Archer said due to the nature of the event, a decision cannot be made without the consideration of the public.

“It is such a massive event that you just cannot make a decision without the consideration of the public.

“I think the public often drives a consensus and final results so I think that the machinery of public opinion and the strength of the supporters of BAISS are compelling people to say this can’t happen.

“It is not a force that is driven by the federation, it is the force that naturally continues to gain momentum.

“It is my wish as president of the BAAAs that this event does happen, whether it is before CARIFTA or post CARIFTA,” he said.

Parents, alumni and athletes are hoping to see a solution to this matter sooner than later.

The BAISS track and field meet was last cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.