Copyright caymancompass
Athletes in the Cayman Islands could soon have an official body to defend their rights and act on their concerns following the announcement of an athlete commission. In an interview with Compass TV, three-time Olympian Ronald Forbes said, “It was just a way for me once again to lend my expertise and my experience to the next generation coming up.” His announcement came on the heels of him assisting to raise funds during an event for the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee – the same organisation that will partner with Forbes to introduce the commission. “I’ve been working with the [Cayman Islands Olympic Committee] general secretary, Ms. Shakeina Bush. And over the course of several months, it’s been slow, but it’s been making progress,” he said. Athletes feeling ignored Forbes noted the importance of having a body that can support athletes who feel voiceless – a reality he says continues to be a problem in his home country. “From an administrative standpoint”, he said, athletes’ concerns are sometimes ignored. “This is one of the initiatives in terms of the commission – to have that voice be aired around that decision-making table, that whatever need or want [or concern] that athletes have, is addressed correctly and not just left on the sidelines,” he said. Athletes feeling ignored spans multiple sports locally, Forbes said, with only a few speaking out in the past to highlight dysfunction within associations and describing how they felt unsupported. Notably, these complaints have come from players from the football, boxing and athletics fraternities. In early 2023, Alex Pascal, the islands’ national javelin record holder, retired from the sport after dealing with what he described as “politics in sports”. At the time, Pascal told the Compass, “I would say 95% of the senior athletes feel the same way, but everyone is scared to talk because … they feel like they are going to get blacklisted or cut off of certain teams.” That same year, players in domestic football expressed their displeasure on new transfer restrictions implemented by the Cayman Islands Football Association. A statement from club members on those transfer regulations, said, “This alarming transformation has shattered the dreams and aspirations of young footballers … leaving them chained to clubs and devoid of the fundamental right to choose their footballing destiny.” With Forbes and the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee planning to establish the commission to help protect athletes, albeit if they are in the ‘right’, this may signify a change in how issues in sports will be handled moving forward. “[I am trying to make] sure that certain mistakes or certain instances of my past and of my generation don’t fall upon the next generation,” Forbes said. “We can lead those to do better than we ever did.” The commission has not been officially launched, but, according to Forbes, is expected to be operational shortly.
