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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 12 2005 : 10:25:23 AM
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... but at what cost to student athletes
ERICA VIRTUE, Observer Writer
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Wrming up in perfect synergy at Morant Bay high School in St Thomas.
That Jamaica is one of the world's leading powers in track athletics is not in question.
A trip down memory lane takes us to the London Olympics in 1948, nearly 60 years ago when Jamaica placed first, second and fifth in the 400 metres.
Jamaica returned four years later, to set a magical world record run in the 4x400 relay in Helsinki, Finland, with the unforgettable effort on the third leg from Herb McKenley. The quartet of McKenley, Arthur Wint, George Rhoden and Les Laing have emblazoned a trail for scores of Jamaicans, who have risen from the junior ranks of athletics to senior superstardom.
Since then, an array of highly-talented athletes have kept the nation's flag flying high on the world stage, among them Keith Gardener, Lennox "Billy" Miller, Donald Quarrie, Raymond Stewart, Bertland Cameron, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, and Grace Jackson.
And last year, during the high temperatures of summer, Veronica Campbell and company kept Jamaicans smiling with their exploits in Athens.
For all of the above and many others besides, their development started at school. Their talent exposed and celebrated at the annual boys' and girls' championships that are without doubt the leading sports events on the Jamaican schools' calendar.
But for those who make it to the highest level, there are many more of the exceptionally talented who fall by the wayside.
In this piece, Sporting World examines some of the hurdles faced by junior athletes and the physical and emotional pain of students and coaches as they reach for the stars.
Recruiting tactics
For many of our youngsters, the proper use of their athletic talent is what will move entire families from deep poverty to stardom and decency. There are many among the movers and shakers in athletics, however, who believe that problems start with the recruiting tactics of schools and coaches, and the promises that are made when young athletes are awarded track scholarships to high schools.
Sporting World investigations found that there are complex issues surrounding recruiting, and the matter has been discussed at the Inter Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) - the body which governs sporting disciplines at that level. A major problem for many parents relate to the conditions under which they agreed to send their children to school. Some told Sporting World they agreed to the transition to more recognised secondary schools because they were led to believe their children would get a chance to improve academically.
Thirteen of 16 parents across Jamaica, whose children were recruited to eight different schools, say coaches told them their children were getting a chance to improve academically and in athletics.
For 14 year-old Damian Dodd (not his real name), early promise ended in tragedy. As teachers tell it, Damian had rotten behaviour and poor attitude long before he caught the eye of a Corporate Area coach, who, in record time, recruited him. The teachers at the Junior High he attended disliked his boorish behaviour, but screamed his name when he gave their school glory.
Damian and his attitude made the transition to high school.
He kept company with the group of time wasters at his new school, many of whom were under the impression that their primary responsibility was to run for the school.
He barely made a 35 average after the first term, it held for second term, and worsened by year-end. Still, he was allowed to return after the first year. Soon, he was sent out of class more often than he was in, because, as one teacher puts it, "he was dunce and insolent".
Conduct warnings, moved to suspensions, three of which came in one term. When his parents were summoned, it was the coach who came. He went through another process of conduct reports and after two years, the staff was told that he had been asked to find another school. His sterling contribution over 400 metres and long jump acknowledged, but the school waved goodbye.
One of his former teachers, who spoke to Sporting World several weeks ago, painted a bleak picture of his rising downfall.
"The school's history in track and field is well documented, and I don't have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is when coaches who are not guided by the Code of Regulations and who are not members of staff recruit these boys, bypassing the principal, the sports department, and dump them on the staff," the teacher explained.
According to him, "Damian is one of more than 20 other athletes who were visitors to classes and when they came, they slept, including snoring." Athletes were, and still are the highest number of repeaters in the school, some repeating fourth and fifth forms, he said.
Clement Radcliffe, chairman of the Inter Secondary Sports Association (ISSA) and principal of Glenmuir High School in Clarendon, said the issue of athletes recruitment has been a source of vexation within ISSA, but the schools must take the responsibility for the students in their charge.
"Schools are in the business of educating children and when a school offers a child the opportunity, it cannot be seen as a backward step. Where the problems arise is when that recruit is used in a way which cannot be deemed as educating," Radcliffe argued.
Guidance counsellor Alvin Matthews says Damian's poor attitude was nurtured in the school while he was winning. The kudos he received reinforced his poor attitude.
But Damian did not last long outside the system.
Three weeks into the summer after he was expelled, he joined forces with boys from his former school and when he agreed to pull off a robbery, he paid the ultimate price - cut down by a licensed firearm holder, even as his mother was trying to find another school to accept him.
School sources say the recruitment of athletes is being done without the knowledge of sportsmasters and principals, and contributions to schools and coaches are contingent on their placement at championship.
Edward Hector, vice-principal of the Holmwood Technical High School, which is the defending girls champion school, identified three categories of coaches in the system.
"There is the professional coach, who has no teacher training background. The trained teacher/coach is one, who did physical education as a co-major or full major, in teachers' college. That person has a Teachers' Diploma. Then there is the coach who is trained in Physical Education with specialist training at the GC Foster College of physical education. All may be IAAF certified coaches at levels 1, 2, or 3," Hector said.
It is these coaches who often spot the talent and "offer the child a place in the schools, pending certain conditions.," Hector said.
However, most coaches admit that there are those in their ranks who have no qualification except the bib they wear which says "coach".
Some principals say they are often asked to sign off on the recruitment of athletes they know nothing about. One said, the issue of recruiting is a source of discontent among schools staff, particularly because of the poor academic quality of many recruits.
Problems arise, some schools say, when coaches are hired by past students' associations and paid outside. In many instances, they are not trained teachers and are not answerable to the Ministry of Education and the Code of Regulation resulting in open hostility in some schools, with teachers dead set against the policy.
Many are caught between a rock and hard place.
"Believe me, I personally would like to ask the coach to leave. But, I did not hire him, and the school is not paying him," one female principal said.
Two of her colleagues argue that was hard to refuse the coaches, because contributions were withheld, if recommended coaches were not hired, leaving schools in an untenable position, as subvention from the Education Ministry is inadequate and untimely, which has forced schools to prostitute themselves to financial contributors.
While there are huge problems with recruiting, the scale on which it is done, has been severely scaled down, because of the upgrading of several schools, along with the educational qualification and specialist training of coaches.
Has recruitment helped or hindered?
One of the premier institutions of athletics is Kingston College.
That institution also has an academic tradition that is enviable in some quarters, but the tactics used to maintain its 14-year winning streak in Boys' Championship wreaked havoc on many of those recruited. It was not strange for students from deep rural Jamaica to attend Kingston College with scant regard for their academic ability.
Recruitment to that institution did very little to help hundreds who were dragged there to ensure a KC win at Boys Champs for more than a decade.
"We were recruited to run for KC. If we did not want to go to class, nobody insisted. Basically, we did what we wanted to do," said a former recruit, who described himself then as an "average".
Now a father of two sons, who attended KC, and with another at the institution, he told a story of rampant indiscipline by recruited athletes.
Describing many fellow recruits as "common criminals" then, he said, they would not be penalised, as the school would bail them out.
Today coach Lennox Graham said, "Kingston College has embarked on a programme to develop the athletes from within its ranks. So our athletes have come from those who have been placed here under various examinations."
The decision to develop from within its ranks was made years ago, after the school conceded that its recruiting policy was almost criminal, and did nothing but ensured continued victory. When the policy was discontinued, it took almost a decade before KC won at Champs again, and could have been longer had officials called the lane breach from Kimani Williams in the 4x400 relay about four years ago.
A similar recruitment tactic was employed by Calabar High School, and it was that practice under Herb McKenley, that put an end to KC's winning run. Athletes are still recruited there, and many of the problems KC faced years ago, for the very same practice, are being faced there. Among the girls' schools, Vere Technical, led the way, and Manchester High School ended Vere's run by doing the same thing, but was unable to maintain students' recruits.
The big question is the fate of the hundreds who have been recruited and failed to live up to their early promise.
Where are they?
Athletics or academic
The question of the academic well-being of the students was a source of controversy, Sporting World found out during the weeks of investigation. Some coaches believe it is not their responsibility to focus on the academic well-being of the students/athletes, saying instead, that it was the responsibility of subject teachers.
While some teachers accept the responsibility in principle, they say the 15-20 hours per week of athletics training leave athletes tired and sleepy, with no time for academic work.
"They are late most mornings, because they train the evening and sleep late the next morning. At this time, believe me as a principal, I can't tell you that it is not a win-win situation. It is a win-lose situation and the students are losing," the rural Jamaica principal said.
He said the academic averages of his athletes were appalling, and while many appeared to be "naturally slow, the long hours of training has not done much to help," said Elizabeth Hanson, an English teacher.
"I have frustrated myself to high blood pressure chastising her school for the abusing of the children in the name of sports. It makes no sense, children are setting record after record, and you can't sign your name," she said.
But school officials say, athletics, or sports in general, cannot be blamed for student athletes who are weak academically.
Said Edward Hector: "We received a group of students at Holmwood from Grade Six Examination (GSAT). The averages for some subjects were between 30 and 40. So we are getting students who are already weak, and athletics or other sports cannot be blamed for that."
The GSAT examination is the yardstick, which measures primary academic ability and placement into secondary schools.
Hector said the academic benchmark of the school was raised when the school accepted a group of students with averages of 60s and 70s in some subject areas, who were not accepted by the school they were placed.
"Compared to what we are accustomed to getting under GSAT, I would not mind 100 more of those," he said.
Richard Bryan, coach of defending Eastern champions Morant Bay High school said his athletes must get the school's passing average of 50 per cent. Among his cadre of 39 for Boys and Girls Championship are four sixth form students, who have passed seven or more subjects in Caribbean Examination's Council (CXC) examination.
However, in several schools, many athletes join the track programme as seniors after completing external examination.
Kingston College's Graham said many of his athletes at the senior levels have CXC qualification and he believed that to be the same in many schools. Their athletes must maintain the school's average.
It was a similar situation at St Jago where KC Graham has coached for two decades.
"The students are tested regularly by the school's standard, and they must maintain passing averages. It is the same thing for the sports athletes. We do not have a different standard for athletes and one for the rest of the school," KC Graham said.
Manchester High's Jerry Holness said: "Once the students are coping I am satisfied."
At Kingston College, Lennox Graham said: "Training is about the all-round development of the person to make them a representative of their country. It is not so much about Kingston College, it is about country," Graham said.
However, some subject teachers are hopping mad.
"The athletes cannot cope and teachers are fed up. Go to the association meetings of the different subjects, and hear the teachers lament about how the coaches are using and abusing the students, and leaving them on their own," a Corporate Area teacher told Sporting World.
He said schools are accessories to the abuse of athletes, if structured homework programmes are not implemented.
Homework help!
When Sporting World began this investigation, several schools said there were homework programmes to assist athletes. On closer examination, it was found that in many cases no such programme exist.
Radcliffe said it was difficult to insist on homework programme specifically for athletes, as the argument may well be made for other sports. He agreed with Hector that some of the GSAT students were weak, and were spread across the school system.
But, such a programme exists, specifically for athletes.
One of the best run, and most organised programme is at St Andrew High School.
Coach Leacroft Bolt, who is also a trained teacher of mathematics, and an IAAF coach, was very clear.
"At St Andrew, it is academics first. Of course we want to win Championships, but it will not be at the expense of the academics. The way it is run here, is that all athletes, the first hour after school is homework time. In that time, the athlete try and finish as much as she can, so that when you get home, you won't have so much to do and you can get adequate sleep," he said.
One of his biggest sources of pride, he said, is to see his athletes brandish high averages sometimes in excess of 80 per cent.
"Believe me, no one sets foot during that first hour after school," he said.
Sporting World visited the school during the research and noted that even in the absence of coach Bolt, the girls dug in deep with homework. At Kingston College, Graham said, the boys have at their disposal, trained and qualified personnel to assist them in various subject areas. Both Manchester and St Jago High say teachers are willing to help, but, none has a structured programme. It was a similar situation at Morant Bay, Ascot, Bellefield, Calabar and, Spaldings high schools.
"We do not have a structured home work programme. But we have teachers who we ask to help the children, especially those who are weak," Holness said.
A western Jamaica biology teacher said: "Coaches and teachers have no binding agreement to tutor any athlete. Any agreement is voluntary, and when the teachers become burdened with his or her workload, nothing happens to the children."
Holmwood's Hector said: "The athletes, who are on dorm, have supervised homework sessions after training. When it comes closer to competition we bring them together, so we are better able to supervise them."
Next week: Hear how students cheat training resulting in injuries, the disturbing sexual abuse of athletes, the will to win with the bare minimum, and the amazing sacrifice of coaches.
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Karl |
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For the glory of schools
