FORMER JAMAICA sprinter Anthony Davis, who ran on the Christian Stokes slate for the position of fourth vice-president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), has contributed a lot to Jamaica's track and field officiating.
Apart from being the meet director at the IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships held in Kingston two years ago, Davis has raised the bar in local officiating, not only with his expertise, but by working overtime to get others up to standard.
During his days on the track, Davis was the first fully trained local athlete to run the 200 metres under 21 seconds. After competing in a lot of local meets, Davis, who was the man behind the Inter-Collegiate Championships, produced a superb 20.8-second run at the 1985 Martin Luther Games.
Davis took time from his study to speak with One-on-One.
QUESTION: Your passion for proper officiating at track meets is well known, why is this so?
ANTHONY DAVIS: I have always focused on competition management, organising competitions when I go to track meets. I strongly believe competition meets are to be very well organised because it is unfair to the athletes. For example, an athlete may leave rural Jamaica between four and five o'clock in the morning to get to Kingston for a nine o'clock competition. So they would have eaten at a specific time to run, especially if they realise that that event is scheduled to start at nine o'clock and when they get there they don't start the event until 10-10:30. It's unfair to the athletes, to the coaches who prepared the athletes and it's unfair to the spectators who we are trying to attract.
Q: A lot has been said about your work as Meet Manager at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, what was that experience like?
AD: It was very challenging, but I wasn't fearful of it. When Adrian Wallace called me one morning and said we would like you to be the Meet Director my response to him was I have to discus this with my wife because it's going to impact significantly on my time. Immediately, what I did was to go to my library (collection of track and field books) and start researching, trying to find out exactly how you organise competitions, so I was able to approach it with a level of confidence and then the JAAA sent me on a number of training courses, so I was prepared.
QUESTION: What about your work with the now defunct JN Relays.
AD: I was the Meet Manager for the JN Relays for about five years. I was able to get a couple initiatives done during the time I was Meet Manager, such as the introduction of the electronic distance measuring equipment (EDM), so you don't have to use a tape to measure the long jump, triple jump, shot put, javelin throw and discus throw.
Q: What about your achievements as an athlete?
AD: I think track and field turned my life around. It gives me a reason to be proud of myself because I was a very introverted young man, I was very quiet, I wouldn't speak. Track and field gave me and opportunity to be confident, I was exposed to people of different class levels and was able to become a better speaker and a better person.
Q: Tell us something about your current schooling. Was there as a choice and what are you in fact studying?
AD: I am studying sports management at Springfield College. I will graduate with a Bsc. I chose Springfield because it's world renown, it is one of the best sports administration institutions in the whole world, they are famous for inventing the game of basketball.
Q: After graduation, there will be a period of internship, what does it entail?
AD: I am expecting, hopefully to do my internship possibly with the United State Olympics Committee (USOC) in Colorado where I will get a first hand view of possibly one of the best training sites in the world. I would like an opportunity to look at the facilities and to work in sports administration there.
Q: How do you intend to transfer that knowledge in a positive manner to influence how sports and sports facilities management are handled in Jamaica?
AD: First of all, I am on study leave from UTech, so I will go back to my job there where I will be able to operate as the sport facilities manager with a high level of efficiency. We (UTech) also intend to do a certificate course in sports management and I will be teaching that course. In terms of the JAAA or for any sporting organisation, I am available to help and I will gladly continue to contribute, helping to organise meets.
- Anthony Foster
