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Pathway to Birmingham 2022 opens for Jersey competitors as CGAJ announce team validation panel
Press Release from the Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey
The Commonwealth Games Association of Jersey (CGAJ) is pleased to announce two important pieces of news.
First, the ACORN ATHLETE PATHWAY is now open to all athletes aspiring to represent Jersey in the 2021 Youth Games or the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
The pathway offers the chance to share experience and knowledge at team events in the build up to the Games. With ACORN’s help the CGAJ can also give some financial assistance to selected athletes.
The CGAJ looks forward to supporting selected athletes, working with its members, over the next three years and beyond to help them achieve their best possible results in an elite performance environment.
CGAJ President, Paul du Feu, said: “We are delighted to be able to open the ACORN support programme so early in the build up to the next Games. We are keen to support those athletes who have competed well in 2018 who have a realistic and challenging long term plan.”
He explained: “We have made some fundamental changes to the previous pathway and will be asking for results and detail of how they performed in top quality national and international events over an extended period. Anyone wishing to sign on should speak to their governing body officials. Each sport will appoint a pathway representative to work closely with their athletes and act as our point of contact.
“The pathway will remain open to new athletes until December 2019. We assume that by then we’ll have identified everyone who is serious about competing at this level and we’ll then do our utmost to assist them in pursuing even better performance in their chosen sports so that Jersey is well represented at the next Games.”
Secondly, the CGAJ has also confirmed the appointment of its new Validation Group. The Group has the task of agreeing the Team Development Process for the upcoming Games cycle. The process deals with agreeing selection criteria for each sport, the team selection and the appeals process, if needed. The Group will oversee the entire process leading up to Birmingham 2022 and the Youth Games in 2021.
The new Group is Graham Huelin (CGAJ Treasurer) and Richard Corrigan, both of whom served during the previous Games cycle, along with three new members; former Assistant Director of Education, Sport and Culture Derek de la Haye, former Senator Paul Routier MBE and Ian Coombs-Goodfellow, who comes with all his experience from the field of badminton.
CGAJ President, Paul du Feu, said: “This is a very hard-working group. They have the challenging and thankless task of overseeing the selection of the teams that go to the Games. Between them the new team bring together a broad knowledge and experience and I know that they are looking forward to getting on with the job.”
He added: “We should also not forget the three group members that have stepped down after four years of hard work. We thank Nathan Jegou and Greg Davis, both of whom we know will continue to focus on their own core sports, and Marc Yates who has kindly agreed to remain involved in the rewriting of the Team Development Process. The CGAJ is indebted to all these hard-working individuals.”