Tyrone Smith, the Bermuda long jumper, has expressed concern that Bermuda’s track and field clubs will have to pay if they want to train at the National Sports Centre.

The introduction of fees for clubs and the general public came last month after a review by the NSC Trustees, who said they will use the revenue to cover extensive operational costs of the main competition athletics track.

Donna Watson, the president of Bermuda National Athletics Association, has insisted that the Island’s track clubs, who had previously been exempt from paying to use the NSC, would be looking for alternative venues to train.

Smith, a two-time Olympian, yesterday supported Watson’s claim that the trustees’ pay-to-train policy would severely hamper the development of Bermuda’s young athletes.

“That track is an investment in the future,” said Smith, who is based in Houston. “When you invest your money you generally expect that it will grow and pay you dividends in the future.

“[The track] is an investment in the children, do you really want to charge the children to win medals for Bermuda?

“The beauty of track and field, and the reason why it became my primary sport, is that it costs nothing to participate. You just have to have a pair of shoes, shorts and a T-shirt.

“If I had to pay to use a track as a junior athlete, I wouldn’t have become an Olympian ranked in the top 15 in the world.

“There is one, just one 400 metres Olympic track on the Island. What is it there for other than to prepare our athletes to represent Bermuda?”

Sean Tucker, the chairman of the NSC’s Board of Trustees, told The Royal Gazette last month that it was important to introduce some form of standardisation for all Bermuda sports that use the facility.

Hockey, football, rugby and cricket have always paid to train and play at the 28-acre site.

However, Smith is adamant that track and field should not be lumped into that group and believes there is very little cost for maintaining the NSC track.

“This whole argument is truly ridiculous,” Smith said. “All of those for these measures and who are comparing track and field to the other sports who have to pay to use the facilities are very uninformed.

“There are little to zero costs to maintaining a tartan surface track, the track maintains itself, It’s all-weather. Secondly, I’ve travelled to 30 different countries representing Bermuda, none of which charged me to use the facilities.

“I train at the University of Houston with world-class facilities and I’m not charged. The youth clubs in Houston do not have to pay to use the facilities of the schools and universities where they train, mainly because most realise that it doesn’t cost anything for these clubs to use their tracks.”

Although the Trustees have made it clear that Bermuda’s Elite athletes can continue to train for free, Smith, who is classed as an Elite athlete by the Bermuda Olympic Association, believes it is more important that young athletes benefit from using the facility.