Technical director of Jamaica's track and field team, Maurice Wilson, at the team's training at Hampden Park. - Ricardo Makyn

GLASGOW, Scotland:

Technical director of Jamaica's track and field team at the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Maurice Wilson, is promising exciting performances from the nation's athletes, but is urging the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to do more to ensure greater co-operation for relay practices.

With some of the biggest names in international track and field assembled to don the black, green and gold in the Scottish city, Wilson is looking forward to a strong showing from Jamaica's 67-strong athletics team, but believes the team could do even better if there was greater co-operation for baton work.

"We are expecting excellent performances in all the areas, and we should have surprising performances in some of the non-traditional areas," Wilson said.

strong contingent

"This Commonwealth Games is going to be very competitive and I'm happy we have such a strong contingent."

However, the man who has been a central part of Jamaica's successes at the most recent Olympic Games and World Championships believes that some athletes have not always shown enough regard for their obligations as relay pool members.

"At the end of the day, everything must be done in the interest of Jamaica," Wilson said.

"At least we have started the relay practice and we have prescribed relay days, but we still aren't getting the sort of cooperation that is necessary. It should be mandatory that persons who want to be involved in a relay make themselves available for the relay pool.

relay pool

We cannot have persons who are supposed to be part of a relay pool deciding when they want to do relay training. In that case, we will always underperform - even if we win, we could (also) have broken a world record, so I think it's important for the JAAA to make sure that a mandate is given that persons are involved in what is known as a relay pool," Wilson added.

"This is done in many other countries and they (athletes) are required to sign on if they are making themselves available and if not, no problem. There are some that think that you don't have to practice for a relay, but from the little I know, it's very important for teams to practice. A team can only get better when this happens," Wilson said.

Track and field competition gets under way on Sunday inside Hampden Park.