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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JULY 2023 4 SPORT Norman Saliba offers valuable insights into the the athletics community in Malta Within a few short days Pem- broke Athleta, Athletics and Triathlon shall be hosting its Fourth Edition of the EAP Malta International, a prestigious ath- letics competition attracting a good number of foreign – mostly European – athletes. What does EAP stand for and what are the benefits deriving local athletes? The acronym stands for Eu- ropean Athletics Promotion, a Europe-wide Circuit pf athlet- ics competitions organized by its members, presently hailing from nine countries, with Malta hosting one of the 14 Meetings. Invitations to participate are ex- tended to each Member on a re- ciprocal basis, giving Pembroke Athleta members not only the opportunity to test their mettle against foreign athletes of quality, but also access to funds that helps no end towards the expense of travel and participation. Moreover, these competitions are advertised by European Ath- letics and also attract athletes from countries other than mem- bers, consolidating the interna- tional flavour and directly en- hancing the technical quality of each Meeting. To our athletes, who had been accustomed to competing locally week in week out among a closed community, this opportunity has proved to be a God-send, and is a welcome fea- ture in their plans. This leads me to a natural fol- low-up question. At his Fourth edition, will it be just Pembroke Athleta members from the local athletics community taking part? Certainly not. To be clear, ba- sically no EAP competition host anywhere in Europe bars athletes from taking part. But being a Member, as is Pembroke Athleta, facilitates participation, arising from the reciprocity mentioned earlier; besides, a host Member can insist on proof of technical quality from non-members to accompany their applications to participate. Our Club policy is to openly offer an opportunity to all Maltese athletes to participate at our locally organized event and it is considered a pity when lo- cal clubs and their athletes fail to take up this invitation. Good to stress that this invitation has been constantly offered right from the first edition. The difference be- tween Pembroke and other local Clubs only arises when compet- ing abroad, as our members can hardly be refused entry and also due to the fact that while our fi- nancial burden is subsidized, oth- er local clubs, besides needing to be accepted, would need to cover all their expenses; that is, travel, participation and accommoda- tion. From its first participation in the EAP, do you consider that the level of Maltese athletics has progressed? It is our considered opinion that from our very first taste of the Circuit our athletes have en- hanced their experiences no end. Suffice to say that by the end of this season our Club athletes will have put in more than 100 ap- pearances competing away from our shores, just on this Circuit. Then there is the number of for- eign athletes competing locally – by the end of this Fourth Edition over 300 foreign athletes will have visited Malta to be part of the Cir- cuit. This in addition to the 40 or so officials accompanying them, and the fact that one edition nev- er materialised due to Covid 19, which undoubtedly left its mark on statistics. National Records, as everyone would agree, are the factual measures that regis- ter progress. Actual figures that show Pembroke athletes estab- lishing over 90 National Records, at diverse age categories, over the past three editions. Observing the positivity in attitudes learnt from athletes in their reference to the EAP, do you and the Club share the belief that these experiences contributed to the success of Maltese athletics during the Games for the Small States of Europe? In 2018, the Club decided to embark on a new Development Program for its members. I re- call vividly the enthusiasm and ambition nascent to team up with a Circuit, such as the EAP, that would present the lacking oppor- tunities to challenge progress in competition with foreign athletes, on foreign soil, even if in posses- sion of a better calibre than our own. This drove our ambitious decision to submit an application to become a recognized member of this 'Club', which was duly ac- cepted following an amount of scrutiny. Concurrently, in the knowledge that Malta, through Sport Malta and the Maltese Olympic Com- mittee would soon be due to host the GSSE on our Island, we ap- proached these important bodies governing local sport, as well as the Ministry for Education and Sport, and the Ministry of Tour- ism, to present our aims, to 1. Create opportunities to our Pembroke members to compete more often abroad. 2. Create the opportunity for all Maltese athletes to com- pete in an annual interna- tional competition in Mal- ta, facing quality athletes from across Europe – and on occasion beyond. 3. Prepare Maltese athletes well and in good time for their participation in the GSSE to be held in Malta. Happily, as the outcomes testi- fy, these aims were well received and supported and most impor- tant, successfully realized. Once again, without meaning to blow one's own trumpet, statistics speak for themselves. The fact that Malta gained its best ever GSSE result and placing, where in athletics the tally was 32 med- als, 23 of which going to Pem- broke Athleta athletes. Plus, the predominant presences in the two successful Relay events. An international Competition of this stature obviously consumes a lot of thought, time and ener- gy. You referred to the support; how deep was this and would you consider it enough? Your assumptions are very much to the point as the work in- volved is daunting, so I will dwell on this aspect first. Membership of the EAP is not just confined to the obligation of putting on an international competition, which on its own is arduous enough. Planning and execution com- mences each November and lasts throughout a season till the fol- lowing September, to ensure that the Club maximizes participation overseas as well. But meanwhile one cannot neglect preparing for the Malta International. A sub-committee for this purpose draws up an initial draft program with a time-table of what and who needs doing what. We start early, looking for athletes' agents, very often athletes themselves who we had some contact with, sponsorships and firms that can sustain the competition. At the same time, we keep tabs on the conditions of our Club athletes, getting them aware of the compe- titions on offer, contacting other EAP members as soon as any of our athletes indicate their de- sire, lobbying for the insertion of events for categories other than Senior or Under 20 and so on to lower categories, especially when we see potential or any athletes targeting an international event at their level the following Spring or Summer. In fact, starting immediately a local Edition comes to its conclu- sion, the Club does not rest on its haunches, examining what went right and what went wrong, in or- der that the product is constant- ly improving and the level gets better and better. After all this is all done for the benefit of our athletes, young and not so young. This strategy works, I am happy to say, as the technical level of our athletes is always on the rise and the product is ever better. I have no doubt that a lot of persons fol- lowing our sport have learnt that this year the status of our compe- tition has gone up a very impor- tant notch in that the competition has been listed as a CHALLENG- ER MEETING, as a WACT, that is a WORLD ATHLETICS CON- TINENTAL TOUR featuring on the World Athletics Calendar and website, naturally also shown on the European Athletics Cal- endar and website. Just imagine, foreign athletes looking for the right environment to qualify for a major event, a World Champion- ship for example. Here I come to the other part of your question. The support that Pembroke Ath- leta, Athletics and Triathlon is constantly getting and for which I take this opportunity to thank profoundly Sport Malta and the Malta Tourism Authority, who listened and understood perfectly what we were chasing from Day One, realizing early what mem- bership of the EAP entailed and the benefits deriving to all Mal- tese athletes. A very oft repeated phrase goes 'have we got there?' Obviously not, there are still many hurdles to go over, many hills to climb and so much more goals to reach, but as long as we progress, then we believe we are on the right track, and if you excuse the pun, on the right field too. With these aims to the fore we WILL contin- ue to see our project grow. You have referred to the quality of foreign athletes raising the levels of competition at this Fourth edition. Can you confirm any names of repute participat- ing? Yes, we do anticipate having a higher level this year as one significant carrot is the WACT mentioned earlier. However, rather than names, there will al- so be a group of twelve Austral- ian athletes currently competing in Europe, in preparation for the World Championships to be held in Budapest in August, who will also be presenting the Maltese public a free dress rehearsal of their abilities.