Donna Watson has hit back at claims by Wayne Scott, the Sports Minister, that the Bermuda National Athletics Association is the only sports governing body that does not pay to use the National Sports Centre.

Scott’s comments during a ZBM Television sportscast on Wednesday night drew the ire of the BNAA president, who sent him an e-mail yesterday to rebut some of his claims.

“We the BNAA would like to correct and clarify a comment that has been repeated many times and you repeated again last evening on the sports newscast,” Watson told the Sports Minister.

“You stated that all NSGBs [national sports governing body] who use the NSC pay except for BNAA. This is not accurate. BNAA has always paid for the use of the National Sports Centre for local and international track meets, and paid monthly for the electricity used to light the track when track athletes trained, which the public has also benefited from.”

The decision by the NSC board of trustees to charge athletes to use the facilities at the stadium to train has drawn strong reaction from the BNAA, which said that many of the young athletes who train there do so to represent their country. Member clubs of the BNAA have now sought alternative club and school grounds to train their athletes, which the BNAA says is not the ideal preparation for overseas meets.

“We currently pay $125 per hour for local meets, which are held just about every other week from January to June [for an average of three to four hours],” Watson said in her e-mail to the Sports Minister.

“We also paid $30,000 for use of the National Sports Centre for three days during Carifta 2012. Average monthly bills for electricity was approximately $450 per month.

“Therefore, like other NSGBs, BNAA does pay to use the facilities. The recent issue has arisen due to the implementation of a charge on track club athletes to train at the National Sports Centre.”

Watson stressed that athletics is mostly a grassroots sport and that the number of athletes involved, about 100, is relatively small compared with other sports. “There isn’t the large base from which to raise income necessary to use the track,” she said.

“Although there was a statement that the public can use the north field with no charge, apparently the minor members of a track club are not considered members of the public and have been told that they cannot even train there unless they pay $125 per hour.”

The BNAA president also took issue with comments in the television interview that the NSC can be used for training up to two weeks before a big international event.

“With respect, two weeks’ training with the right equipment and in the right facilities, is generally not sufficient time if the athletes wish to be at their best competitively,” she told Scott.

“Therefore BNAA believes that the athletes in the youth clubs should be exempted because by the time the young people join track clubs and maintain regular training, they are generally the serious athletes training towards junior, regional and international competitions, such as Carifta, leading to the World festivals, on both junior and senior levels, and need the support, financial and otherwise, of their country and community.

“As you know, BNAA is concerned that the recent growth and strides in athletics will now be compromised. Athletics in Bermuda requires support.”

Scott emphasised yesterday that it is the Government’s aim to continue to support the athletes while maintaining a facility that benefits everyone.

“We are working on some things which I stated publicly and I stated to Donna,” Scott told The Royal Gazette. “There is a difference between the payment that helps towards the maintenance cost versus some of the other charges that different organisations pay for the utilisation of the field.

“This is nothing new; it is something that has been on the table for the last couple of years. The things that are a priority is making sure that we support our athletes, making sure we support our youth and keeping a facility maintained so that it functions for all of us.

“I can appreciate why this [BNAA stance] is being done, but there are better ways to solve the problems. I’m not getting drawn into the back-and-forth debate, I don’t see that solving the problem.”