Developing Track and Field Athletes in T&T : A School-Based System Approach

Transition From Sports Clubs to Secondary School Track & Field Clubs

Trinidad and Tobago without doubt has many talented youths in all sports, but let us focus on Track and Field (T&F). Some of the challenges we face are finding these talents and being able to properly develop them especially in their teenage years. I am strongly of the opinion that if we change our approach from coaching students in clubs, and into the schools we will unearth a larger pool of talent and more efficiently develop our future athletes.

The club system has not failed, but the school-based system would have far more advantages, and I will share some with you:

1.????? Better performing nations have a strong school-based system.

The two countries in CARIFTA that consistently performed better than Trinidad and Tobago are Jamaica and The Bahamas, both of which train the majority of their student athletes in high schools.?Even though in the Bahamas, more talented athletes are place in private schools which are associated with clubs that can give them specialized training and exposure.

The World Under 20 Athletics Championships features countries such as the United States of America, Jamaica and Kenya as consistent performers on the medal table, these countries also have a strong high school-based system for developing their junior athletes.

Let us consider the recently concluded Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) that was most excellently hosted by Trinidad and Tobago. The Top performing nations (medal count) in athletics and para-athletics were: England (30), Nigeria (8), Australia (13), Kenya (9) and South Africa (11). England, Australia and South Africa also have strong systems (programmes) that drive the development of sports and athletics through schools, because they also see from a research perspective that this is important to holistic development of students.

Jamaica was able to gain 2 gold and 2 bronze medals, while Trinidad and Tobago was able to gain 2 silver and 2 bronze medals in the CYG. Interestingly, of the 6 persons who received medals for Trinidad and Tobago, 3 of them are primarily trained in high school-based systems (USA, Jamaica).

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2.????? Secondary Schools provide a greater talent pool.

The average secondary school’s population in Trinidad and Tobago may range from 700-1200 students. This is a large population from which to find athletes to screen that are conveniently available.

The club-based system allows for the training of students that their parents have identified their talents and able to invest the time and funds into their training and abilities, however what if the parents have not seen it or have the means or time to engage them in a club? If you recall Usain Bolt’s athletic abilities were noticed by his cricket coach in high school who then encouraged him to join the school’s track team.

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3.????? More cost effective for parents.

Secondary (High) Schools will not only allow for students’ abilities to be noticed more easily, but maybe more cost effective for a lot of parents. When an athlete buys lunch at school (some institutions may even provide lunch) a few hours after is training, then after training they head home to have dinner. This allows for athletes to be fuelled and recover better. Sometimes when students train in clubs, parents may have to ensure children are nourished before and after training, which is good but may be a little more costly.

Strength and conditioning (S&C) is an important aspect of athletic development, developing gyms in schools will also help parents to save money, and where S&C is appropriately administered, there is a reduction in injury risk, which will also save parents the costs associated with rehabilitation and physiotherapy.

Parents may also find it easier to make one pick up after training at school, then head home and so save on fuel cost and make better use of productive time. Overall, training students in high schools may help parents to save on the cost of training, gears, buying food, motor vehicle gas and productive time.

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4.????? The coaching is more focused.

Training teenagers in sports, generally should be developmental, especially up to the age of 17. The school-based system allows for this, and with time the coaches become more specialized in working with this age group. In the club system coaches are focusing on both developmental and high-performance training at the same time, and sometimes high-performance (higher intensity) programmes are used or tweaked for secondary school students in clubs, and potentially could lead to burn-out, overloading and developing overuse injuries.

Ensuring strength coaches are properly trained and certified in strength and conditioning is very important, especially when working with growing children because the approach has to be tailored and different from that of high-performance athletes. These are all reasons why focused training for this age group is important.

Club coaches’ livelihoods may not necessarily be at risk with a transition to a school-based system, considering the time that schools normally end daily, which is around 2:30 pm, this can allow for current club coaches to engage secondary school students in in training for 2-3 hours, and have 5 pm and onwards to attend to their clubs where they can focus more on training high performance athletes. This approach could prevent a disruption in their income, and ultimately improve their coaching efficiency.

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5.????? Development of Competitions

Developing a robust school-based system of training track and field athletes, will ultimately lead to the development of inter-secondary school games; better competition, better performances and easier identification of potential national athletes. This would be a major boost to the competitions hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Secondary Schools Track and Field Association (TTSSTFA) such as regional and national championships, relay festivals and cross country. This may even gain the interest of sponsors and organizations to partner with local sporting organizations to develop other events.

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6.????? Compliments Education

Participation in secondary school sports usually comes with an academic requirement. This can serve as a motivation for student athletes to excel academically as well. This would be important as it will encourage students to gain passes so that at the end of their secondary school journey, they can apply for athletic scholarship programmes in local universities such as the University of Trinidad and Tobago or those in Jamaica, the USA, etc.

Participating in track and field training between 2:30 pm – 5:00 pm, will allow students sufficient time to return home and engage in their studies and preparation for the next day at school.

OTHER BENEFITS to consider

There are several other benefits of training track and field athletes in schools that we may consider, and they include but definitely not limited to:

1. Provides additional extra co-curricular activities for student development. Some children can move on to make a career out of athletics, considering the cash prizes for this year’s World Championships for e.g., USD $70,000.00 for first place in an individual event.

2. Keeps children away from criminal activities.
3. Teaches time management, hard work and discipline.
4. More inclusive to students from diverse economic backgrounds, has the potential to give them international exposure e.g., CARIFTA, Commonwealth Youth Games, World Under 20, etc.
5. Fosters school spirit, national pride and increase appetite for athletic events (will expound later on).
6. Generate income for coaches, support staff.

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What else is required for SUCCESS?

There will be some key areas to consider, and of course things will take time and nothing has to be perfect to start once there is a goal that is being actively pursued.

Availability of Competent Coaches

Ideally, secondary schools would want levels 1-2 athletics coaches that have an educational background in exercise or sports sciences, but in some situations the coaches maybe physical education teachers, other subject teachers who are former athletes, etc. However, there are opportunities through national sporting organizations (NAAATT, USATF) to provide the training and educational development needed.

I mentioned earlier the importance of strength and conditioning (S&C), this is not necessarily the same as personal training or powerlifting or bodybuilding, and so cannot be effectively administered by any trainer, it is recommended that persons providing S&C are trained and certified in this specialty. Popular instituitions for certifying persons in strength and conditioning are: NSCA - Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), ISSA - Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach (CSCC), NASM - Peformace Enhancement Specialist.

In the USA, S&C coaches are present in hundreds of high schools, represented by the NHSSCA. However, in our local setting we tend to have the track and field coach who also executes S&C training, this is okay but it is important that they are trained and have current knowledge, because S&C allows for improved performance and reducing risk of injury.

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Facilities to train

?????????????? Most secondary schools, should have a playing field or easy access to one which can be used as the training grounds. Usain bolt actually encouraged training on grass for children. Schools may also need an area that can be used as a gym or used to store track and field, gym and exercise related equipment. The beauty about this is that not only track and field, but all sports and all students can be benefit from strengthening.

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FUNDING

?????????????? This all sounds like a grand idea, but school administrators would ask, “How are we going to fund this?" We always feel that we need a lot of money first to see results, when the truth is money normally follows after results are seen. Having lived in Jamaica for a number of years, I can share with you many ways how secondary schools are able to fund their sports programmes (academic programmes and manage facilities).

(1)?? Self-funded – some schools have general registration fees; they may have cafeterias, tuck shops (snack counters), and host events that generate revenue.

(2)?? Parents and Teachers Association support – they make contributions or also host fundraising events, e.g., barbeques, concerts, walk-a-thons, raffles, bazaars, etc.

(3)?? Past Students and Associations – many secondary schools that do well in sports are heavily supported by their past students who contribute to ensure that their school traditions, co-curricular activities are upheld and the current generation benefits from it as they did. Example the Ashenheim family donated a track to Jamaica College.

(This year myself along with other past students raised USD $7,000.00+ to purchase musical instruments for the cadet unit, and others contributed to provide items our athletes need for Boys and Girls Champs and Penn’s Relays). This is possible because these same co-curricular activities, such as the school’s track club facilitated school pride.

(4)?? Donations from local businesses in the same town or area the school is located. Example, Example 2

(5)?? Assistance from the community.

(6)?? Assistance from the Member of Parliament

(7)?? Support from Parents

(8)?? Sponsors, some schools are actually sponsored by brands such as Puma.

(9)?? Fundraisers or Crowdfunding, remember recent World Cup Stars Reggae Girlz GoFundMe ?

(10) I am sure they are other means I am not remembering right now.

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Support for Inter-Secondary School games

When students go to represent their schools for regional and national championship games, each school administration should ensure that at least 2 buses or 2 maxis of student supporters attend the event to cheer on their schoolmates, wearing their school uniforms and colours with pride.

The long-term benefit of this, is that when a student has done this for 5-7 years through high school, once the event develops, they will attend afterwards, and they will be more willing to support the development of their secondary school as they transition into working adults. This will also encourage and develop an appetite for local athletic events, so when its time to host our national track and field games they will be well supported.

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Sponsors for Inter-Secondary School games

Sponsors will be more willing to engage school-based events, for several reasons. When students become familiar with your products, they will encourage their parents to buy them, and when they become adults, they will buy the same products.

Some companies can also engage high schools in competitions that promotes their products, there are usually cash prizes or gifts that can be used to uplift the sports programme in these schools. For example GRACE Foods who is the title sponsor of Jamaica's Boys and Girls Champs, Grace Foods (Move Like a Champ), Grace Foods Flairy Competition (of which my school was one of the winners).

However, I am a business man, but not a marketing specialist, Jamaica has a great model in this aspect, that is worth studying. We need people who would dedicate the time and effort to see what works best for the culture here and get more sponsors on board.

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The Transition to Professional Sports

This would be my last, but definitely not my least point. The school-based system of training track and field athletes, will help to unearth more talents and better develop our local athletes. However, it is important that we have the right systems in place as well that helps them in their transition to professional sports, some may choose to go overseas to study and train in universities and colleges, then later attach to clubs. Those who remain locally, we have to ensure that similar opportunities are here in terms of our universities and have clubs with coaches and managers, who can develop them at a high-performance level and have them engaged in international competitions and meets.

Trinidad and Tobago is a nation rich in natural sporting talents, it is our duty to ensure that we have a system where we can find, develop and transition these talents into professional athletes. A wider pool of athletes, will bring increased competition and breathe a breath of fresh air in our local track and field industry.

This kind of change may not be accepted by all, but I believe change that takes us out of our comfort zone or rhythm should not be opposed but instead investigated and see where we can use that change to our advantage. This is something we learned coming out of the pandemic. ?

If we want change, we cannot keep doing the same thing and expect different results. When we want to improve our athletes’ performance, we not only train harder, sometimes we change our approach, their techniques or even change their events to get the best out of them. If this is our approach with our athletes, why not apply it to how we can develop the sport too. Let us develop track and field in the schools.

Thoughts shared by ADRIAN PALMER

Jamaican living in Trinidad and Tobago, working in Sports Science and Sports Medicine.

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