MVP Track Club head coach Stephen Francis (right) speaks with his athlete, Semoya Campbell, during the Jamaica team training at the warm-up track adjacent to the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing, China, yesterday. - Ricardo Makyn

ANDRÉ LOWE, Special Projects Editor - Sports

BEIJING, China:

MVP Track Club boss Stephen Francis has questioned the necessity of pre-championship training camps and bashed the Jamaica Athletics Admin-istrative Association (JAAA) for what he described as a poorly organised exercise in Tottori, Japan, ahead of the World Championships.

Francis, who said that athletes belonging to his club and others had missed up to two days of training due to poor planning by the JAAA, was also forced to delay the start of his session yesterday as his athletes had not been accredited.

The outspoken coach was bitter as he expressed concern about the disruption of his charges' preparation so close to the championships.

Asked about the readiness of several top names in his group, Francis replied: "Everything was ready before we got to Japan. Before that, it was great, but I don't know what will happen between then and now because they got here only last night (Tuesday night) at 9 p.m.," said Francis.

"I can't quite fathom what the arrangements were in Japan, or who it was for, but it couldn't have been for the athletes, who were preparing to compete this weekend," he fumed.

"They missed a whole day due to travel and they are missing time now. They (JAAA) made arrangements where it took some athletes a day and half to get here from what was supposed to be a three-hour direct flight out of Japan," Francis said.

Several athletes had to wait for hours after arriving at the team hotel in Beijing before they were assigned rooms by the management staff headed by JAAA treasurer Ludlow Watts.

"These people obviously can't organise their way out of a garbage pan and they should leave it alone," Francis said.

"It is disastrous! I am sick and tired of letting the JAAA know that they are not experts.

The people who they are receiving advice from know nothing about what is required at this level. Nobody has ever come to me. I don't know if they have gone to Mr (Glen) Mills, but no one has ever come to me and asked me the best way to get my athletes to prepare and perform well," said Francis, whose MVP camp has close to 20 members on the Jamaican team here.

"I say over and over again, 'You do not know what is best for the preparation of any athlete. The people who know are the coaches, and if you do not consult the coaches of the athletes on the team, then you are wasting time!"

"I don't know if they (JAAA) are trying to (follow) the United States when it comes to camps and that sort of stuff, but the US camp is designed to allow the athletes to perform the best that they can. They have everything that they want," added Francis, who has had several well-documented disputes with the JAAA over training camps.

"These per diem camps that Jamaica organises are ridiculous and I am most upset because the athletes were looking very good, and then you had this disaster - flying up and down the place; missing two, three days of practice - for what reason? I don't know."

"You have a youngster like (Omar) McLeod. What is he doing in camp without his coach? He is a medal prospect. He should be with his coach training, trying to win this thing, and it has been shown over and over again that the people who are in the camp without their coaches do not perform up to par. There must be some other reason why we keep having these camps, which are vastly substandard," added Francis, who made it clear that his athletes would not be attending any future camps.