Sports BOA backing emerging athletes Barbados Today05/02/20210216 views BOA assistant secretary-general Cameron Burke The Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) may inject more funds into programs such as the Emerging Athletes program which was rolled out in 2019 and facilitated through the national federations. BOA Vice-President Cameron Burke said they have seen the benefits of the Emerging Athletes Program and since hardly any sporting events such as CARIFTA took place last year, the BOA will look to inject more money so that the young talented athletes in Barbados will continue on the right path towards their development. “That program is all about the national federation. The national federations write a proposal to us about their emerging athletes, make the submissions and then we will provide some funding to assist them in rolling out the program. “It has been working well. We have some national federations who have not capitalised on it but it has been working well. It is good to see some of the national federations using it and seeing the benefits of it,” Burke told Barbados TODAY. National coach Terry Farley lauded the program which he described as being of great benefit to the Barbados Chess Federation. “There was no CARIFTA last year and there is no CARIFTA this year. And to find ways to keep the kids motivated and interested in that emerging athlete program, the Barbados Chess Federation is able to assist those children who would have qualified for that program through chess training. “The COVID situation is not just a health crisis it is a financial crisis and for those kids who would have private coaches like myself and some of the other coaches out there, that would become a burden on the purses of parents. So, that program has really assisted parents financially, so that their kids could still get chess lessons. “That is very important because you don’t want a situation where a child is not exposed to training and then when things resume there is a lack of interest or preparedness for any upcoming competition. So, the BOA program has been beneficial,” Farley said. morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb