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JASON Wickham, leader of The Aquatic Alliance and presidential candidate for Saturday’s Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) annual general meeting (AGM) and election, wants a clean and fair contest.
Wickham leads a team of seven candidates who will vie for the association’s top posts. The seasoned swim administrator has seven years’ experience as ASATT public relations officer and assistant/treasurer and will contest the presidential race against incumbent Lindsay Gillette.
Wickham’s six-member team of ChantalRoss-Thomas (secretary), Raymond Garcia (treasurer), Danielle Cozier (assistant secretary/treasurer), Shawn Pouchet (first vice-president), Ryan Smith (second vice-president) and Natasha Williams (public relations) vie for the remaining positions.
The incumbents are Gillette, Joseph McLeod (first vice-president), Shirla Lamorell-Lyons (second vice-president), Gregory Mitchell (general secretary), Natasha Jagdeo (treasurer), Raymond Garcia (assistant secretary/treasurer) and Gresha Gonzales (public relations officer).
The new executive will serve a one-year term. With the election less than a week away, Wickham hopes for a smooth flow of operations but said his team will be on the lookout for any possible discrepancies in the voting process.
“We have been connecting and talking with people and trying to convince them of this new direction that we need to take. We’re just hopeful for the best on Saturday.
“There’s one issue which hampers each election, the fact that there are some clubs that show up to vote that do not participate in our processes. Therefore, they are unconstitutional.
“We have also not received a list of who the voters/constitutional clubs are. We don’t have an official number of clubs confirmed to vote but we know at the last election there was 24 clubs.
“There have been one club admitted since so it should be 25 voting clubs. We’re working with that but we don’t know who is constitutional and who’s not. We want the elections to be free and fair and we want constitutional clubs to vote at the election,” he said.
According to him, The Aquatic Alliance boasts the inclusion of four current/ex-athletes. They are Ross, Pouchet, Smith and Cozier, who still swims as a masters’ athlete.
He said it’s rare for former athletes to return to serve the association after their careers and believes this group is fully athlete-centred and also pushing for much-needed constitutional change.
Particularly, Wickham vouches for a lengthier term for the executive. “A big part of the reason why we are not performing the way we should is because we’re not planning, setting rules, policies and procedures.
“How can we put things in place for athletes to flourish if we cannot even manage ourselves? The constitution is the number one thing. This annual election does not make sense. Our proposal is to have an AGM next year with a new constitution.
“We want to propose that we have a two-year term. The reason we’re only asking for two years is because there’s not trust in the association. We want to start with one year and then move to two.
“Our proposal is that in 2024, after Olympics, we have another election and seek a four-year term thereafter. Hopefully by that time, we build enough trust in the association,” he added.
The Aquatic Alliance’s theme is ‘Mediocrity Ends Here. Better Systems for Better Performances and Aquatic Excellence’.
They also plan to consult with stakeholders in the aquatic fraternity to derive a vision for the sport and address the governance issues presented by the current constitution, and to have the 2022 AGM under the new constitution.
Wickham’s slate is goal-bound on re-establishing the ASATT award ceremony, create events to build the swim community, establish national team selection policies (for athletes, coaches, team, and technical officials) and a national training squad.
They are also working towards developing ASATT committees by inviting persons from within and outside the community to encourage participation and identify talent for succession planning.
Additionally, The Aquatics Alliance intends to make an aggressive push to increase the number of registered athletes.
Wickham and his team also outlined a detailed scope of works to ensure transparency through financial reporting.
He closed, “The team is good, alive and well and it’s the final stretch. On Thursday, we’re going to have a virtual meeting as our final push for Saturday.
“We want to let people know that we have to do the right thing, reject the mediocrity we have in the community and put together the systems and framework to have the athletes performing. That’s all it’s about.”
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