If there?was ever a woman who can do what has traditionally been a man’s job, it’s Catherine Jordan.
She seems ready-made for the job as president of the newly rebranded Athletics Association Of Barbados (AAB), formerly the Amateur Athletics Association.
She is taking over from another female trailblazer, Esther Maynard, who served with distinction and is worthy of high praise.
Jordan is no greenhorn in athletics circles as she has been around the sport for ages serving as an administrator and has been chairman of the Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships (BSSAC).
It is an open secret that she is seen as a no-nonsense, hardline type of customer. I have heard some refer to her as an “Iron Lady”, someone you don’t make sport around.
Such a description would no doubt have been carved by people who had to make sure that their Is were dotted and their Ts crossed when transacting business with the new president. She also has the same reputation as principal of the St George Secondary School.
Actually, I think her approach is the best one, as too many of us like to settle for much lower standards than our abilities dictate. If she’s a hard taskmaster, she will raise the bar in this area.
Perceptions and assumptions very often lead to individuals rocking the boat more out of ignorance and mistrust and not necessarily out of a deliberate plan to undermine someone’s vision for an organization. Understanding and patience are required on all sides.
I think the best way to overcome such obstacles is to have respect for the office and to be professional in carrying out any responsibility thrusted upon you.
Should this approach be needed to get track and field moving in Barbados, I believe it is worth a try no matter who wears the president’s hat.
There is hardly any overt or publicized friction within the executive of the AAB, so we can assume that Jordan inherits a council that is stable and united and can focus on divising ways and new strategies in concert with its recent rebranding.
The athletes must be the priority and how we get them from point A to point B must be on the front burner.
In this respect, we tend to focus on competition but perhaps we need to take a more detailed look on how we prepare our athletes for competition and even before that we must ensure that they are taught the basics from early.
This isn’t peculiar to athletics as we see the same approach from coaches, teachers, parents and supporters in other sports where the motto is to win at all cost with the least emphasis being placed on technique.
Inevitably, we get a situation where young sportsmen and women reach the national level and plenty of remedial work then has to be done on flaws which would have been recognized and should have been corrected long ago.
The AAB should be thinking of setting up an elite programme to run all year for those who excel at all levels of athletics so that there will be constant, expert monitoring of their progress outside of a competitive setting. The overseas-based athletes are already well served in this aspect.
Ultimately, Barbados’ success in all international competitions is what really counts so we need unity among coaches to make it work.
We should be clear by now that though there might be similarities, the goals of the national programme is different from what obtains at school and club level.
Lest we forget, when we produce Olympic medallists, World champions or even CARIFTA stars the whole country rejoices. Therefore, the collective effort is what counts from the boardroom to the track.
Barbados Olympic Association president Steve Stoute was correct when he said it’s the responsibility of associations to create programmes to develop talent.
Blame should not be apportioned to other organizations if proper structures aren’t put in place by parent bodies to take athletes from the phase of creeping to competing.
I think Jordan and her executive must be thinking along these lines. With her training and experience she can lead from the front.
• Andi Thornhill is an experienced award-winning freelance sports journalist.
