Sun. May 15, 2022

   The fan turnout at the 2022 National Track & Field Championships this past weekend at the Marion Jones Sports Complex track was dismal.  Granted, there were other events, sporting and otherwise, competing for the attention of the small Belize City population seeking entertainment or just an outing after a long week of work and/or school.  After all, this was the weekend of the annual Crooked Tree Cashew Fest.  And there were other special events too, e.g. a Bikers Fest by the Belize Brain Awareness Society at BTL Park, and the Ahmadiyya Basketball League finals at Mexico Center, as well as 1st Division football games at the MCC, all taking place on Sunday.  And then there was a Mundialito event on Saturday at the MCC, and U17 football games at the Marion Jones Sports Complex field on Saturday also.  But still, there is no excuse for just a handful of fans witnessing some of the best athletes in the country engaging in fierce athletic competition to test their speed, strength, skill and endurance.  Our nation’s fittest, strongest, and fastest males and females from across the nation were on display this weekend at the Marion Jones Sports Complex, but many Belizeans were quite unaware, and very few were on hand to witness the once-a-year spectacle.  But we can hardly blame them.

   In all major sports in the country, e.g. football, basketball, cycling, volleyball, etc., there are events held at various times throughout the year, culminating in the climactic finals, where a regional and then a national champion is determined.  The district or regional championships have their gathering of fans supporting their favorite teams or individual participants, but it is at the national championships that we normally expect to see large crowds, following an intense advertising campaign.  A robust seasonal competition only serves to whet the appetite and build the anticipation of fans for the national championship finals. 

   Of course, with the two-year hiatus due to Covid-19, and the still struggling economy due to rising fuel prices, fan turnout at most events has been far less than what it was in brighter years, but at least for the “Nationals” there is the expectation that fans across the country would be reminded of the occasion and encouraged to attend.  Not so with the BAA 2022 Nationals.  Many fans were not even aware that the National Track & Field Championships were taking place over the weekend.  Unlike Dara’s “Ride for Health” ads, which hit the airwaves over a month before the event, track & field meets in Belize City are somewhat of a virtual secret. 

   With varying success, some sporting organizations, perhaps in their quest to curtail expenditure on their advertising budget, do limited or no spending on advertisement of their events in newspapers or television, but have chosen the new pathway of social media, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., as a cheaper method to spread the word to fans.  Whatever their chosen vehicle for promoting their event to fans, the turnout to events of the Belize Athletic Association (BAA), and in particular at its National Championships, has been poor for years now, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

   While the members of the BAA executive and their loyal inner circle go about the business of organizing track meets featuring young, aspiring athletes, there appears to be little concern about the level of fan turnout.  A lot of planning and dedicated work, much of it voluntary, goes into conducting the event, but the general attitude expressed by certain BAA executive members is that “this is the way it has always been around our track meets, and the reason is because track & field is not a popular spectator sport in Belize.”

   We beg to differ.  Perhaps BAA executives are too young to recall the glory days of athletics in Belize.  Though it was only once a year, the annual September Track & Field meet at the MCC Grounds in the 1960s was a spectacular event that saw massive crowds witnessing the races, and even congregating around the dramatic final legs of the high jump contest.  Track stars were local heroes in those days.  The spirit waned in the 1970s, and was briefly rekindled at a massive Sports Spectacular in March of 1980 at the MCC.

   This weekend’s 100m and 200m national male champion, Shawn Gill, is currently in his third year of studies at Texas A & M, where he had secured a scholarship through the efforts of Belize 1960s sprinting champion, Colin Thurton, who is currently a certified coach at that university, and also had assisted another Belizean star, Kaina Martinez, in securing a scholarship there.  Shawn was also disappointed in the fan attendance at this weekend’s National Championships, as he says he is accustomed to performing in front of many thousands of fans at regular meets in the U.S.

   Belize’s still reigning 1500m and 5000m national male champion, Albert Davis, who was tested by the valiant efforts of 14-year-old Demetrie Meyers in those events, also expressed disappointment at the very small number of fans that witnessed the dramatic finishes to both races.  

   Belizean-American athletic coach Greg Meyers, whose three children, ages 12, 14 and 16, all gave outstanding performances, was impressed with the talent on display by other Belizean athletes as well; but he also expressed his dismay with the lack of proper promotion of the event.  Greg also reiterated his position that there is great economic potential for the sport of athletics in Belize, where with proper investment and planning, the Belize Athletic Association and the country could realize huge economic benefits from hosting international track & field events.     

   Part of the problem with sports in general in Belize has always been the political will, and the reluctance to direct a significant portion of the national budget to sport development.  Belize governments have traditionally seen sports as a necessary avenue of expenditure to keep our youths busy and out of trouble; but in missing the great economic potential of sports as an industry, they shy away from investing significant public funds where it is needed to make the industry “take off.”  Our present Minister of Sports, Hon. Rodwell Ferguson, has expressed a sincere desire to see sports develop for the betterment of our youth in Belize, but while Meyers said he left his meeting with the Minister impressed by his sincerity, he was disappointed that the minister was looking to him, Meyers, to source and secure the necessary funding for his envisioned development plans.  Meyers advised that seeking foreign funding, as the minister suggested, will only mean that at the end of the day, most of the financial returns will not come back to Belize as they should.  It sounded much like the F.D.I. (foreign direct investment) song that has been popular with Belizean politicians; but Meyers warned that if foreign entities invest their funds, they will be the ones dictating how the resulting “pie” is shared down the road.   

   While our nation’s future is currently being adjudicated at the ICJ, the development of sports in Belize, and athletics in particular, is still a matter requiring much discussion and focus from those who determine the allocation of our tax dollars.

   At the ground level of our athletics association, it is business as usual, with little anticipation of any major change in the atmosphere at local track & field meets.  But there was a time, way back “eena di day,” when track & field athletics was a big and exciting affair in Belize.  And it can and should happen again.  Where there is a will, there is a way.