Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs Ashwin Creed has described the failures of Richard Thompson (100m), Renny Quow (400m) and Jehue Gordon (400m Hurdles) at the recent World Track and Field Championships as a cause for concern. However, he added there was enough time for them to rebound ahead of the London Olympics in 2012. “Most of the men’s performances were disappointing but I think it’s a good thing that it happened now, so that there is time for introspection, reflection and reevaluation... Not only for the athletes, but the NAAA as well.” Creed, a former national middle distance runner and coach, asserted that Thompson, who set a national record of 9.85 at the National Championships two weeks ahead of competing in Daegu, had been blighted by the timing of the local event.
“I was very concerned when I saw the first round of the 100m. The athletes came in in the second round and they were all lethargic. What was the reason for that? Was it that the most of them peaked within two weeks of the games? Is it that they left here late and should have been in Daegu with a longer time to adjust to the jet lag? They need to analyse this. It is the responsibility of the NAAA to set their dates to compliment the athletes. Most of the athletes at this level train by what you call microcycles, which on the average last three weeks. Everything is charted on a graph towards peaking at the right time so if you break into that then you break into the cycle.” He also felt that Gordon, who placed fourth at the World Championships as a 17-year-old in 2009, was yet to live up to his early promise.
“He has not been able to replicate the 48.26 he ran in 2009 which means there has been a certain level of regression. He ran 48.92 at the Hampton Games and 48.75 at the National Championships but at the international meets, he is not getting below 49 seconds so something is radically wrong.” Creed added that Cleopatra Borel, who placed 13th in the shot put (17.62m), needed to “revisit of her programme” in order to break the 20m barrier, that 400m semifinalist Quow, a bronze medal winner in 2009, needed to “sit down with his coach and take a look at what is happening” because “you cannot have two bad years in a row” and that 200m finalist Rondell Sorillo should “develop in terms of strength” to compliment his natural ability.
Creed credited sports psychologist Dr Margaret Ottley with helping sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste live up to her potential as a world class athlete.
Baptiste was T&T’s only medallist at the Championships, winning a bronze in the Women’s 100m. She began working with Ottley, an associate professor at West Chester University, two years ago after failing to reach the finals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the World Championships in Berlin in 2009. Creed said that the 24-year-old had come into her own under Ottley’s guidance. “Kelly-Ann was an NCAA champion in 2008 and at that time it was expected that she would progress to the higher ranks. After she had challenges with getting to the finals at the major international meets, she went to a new coach and we provided psychological assistance to her through Dr Ottley and a team of sports psychologists because I personally realised that whenever she had to run with the big guns, she always seemed to not perform. I think she’s improved by leaps and bounds and that resulted in her performance at the World Championships.” Creed said he was also impressed with Baptiste as well as women’s 100m semifinalists Semoy Hackett and Michelle Lee Ahye.
Source: www.guardian.co.tt
By Nicholas Clarke