UK view on Jakan track

[Willi]

So you agree that CDown Classic is a MINOR meet then?

[Karl]

I heard he held the long or triple jump record at western champs for along time but how do we know he would have made the transition form high school to seniors?

We do not...excepting others like Foreman of Munro with similar talent did!

[Karl]

kinda disagree.

1st off, there seems to be an explosion of athlete and fan interest this year in Jam. The Devt meets are PACKED and drawing more than Premier league football on a weekly basis.


The local clubs have ALREADY proven their worth and the fruits are there to see.

Now we have another problem. Too many great athletes, too few spaces on Nat Teams.

Take for example the plight of one Sherri Anne Brookes...will she have to retire shortly?

Willi: Our population has grown. We have more schools thus more avenues for exposure.

...and in the old days (imagine I had the opportunity to run on a Western Schoolboys 4 x 400 M relay team at Cornwall against a T'dad all schools team and didn't bother - '63 I think it was...asked by my school phys-ed teacher, Ken Walton of Munro who was one of the coaches or organisers).

Why?

The farthest thing from most schoolboys and schoolgirls thoughts then was track was an opportunity for possible making money or that track could be a career path. We just saw the fun of Western Camps and Inter-Secondary Schools Champs.

Hell...Gibson is a relatively new phenomenon when put against the many top athletes 1910 to today. Today there is real motivation to put good effort in T&F preparation.

In the old days it was weeks of serious training! Now...?

The talent has always been there! ...and it just keeps coming off the 'production line'.

In a real sense football is just catching on as a path to financial success. ...and in football it is the very same as T&F the talent has been always there...and the 'production line' just keeps churning!

[Willi]

What is different is that local training has improved by leaps and bounds.

Everybody has popn growth, so that cant explain our recent RELATIVELY improvement over others.

We now have means and motivation to go along with talent.

[Karl]

What is different is that local training has improved by leaps and bounds.

Everybody has popn growth, so that cant explain our recent RELATIVELY improvement over others.

We now have means and motivation to go along with talent.

...population growth + greater access + greater motivation (every area - coaches, athletes, administrators and those who support) ...You cannot take out that population growth as it means a greater pool from which OUR athletes are found. The other 'big' nations (we are now 'big') in the sport always had the other ingredients to go along with their vast populations.

You do know that if you discount population growth you are saying if we had only miniscule population running in say hundreds, say size of Hamption school, we could with the same consistency compete with nations with millions? Surely the size of the talent pool must be considered?

[Willi]

Karl!!!!

We had one of our best performances in 19 freaking 48.

From then till now, we have had several lean harvests at the Olys and popn was always growing in that time.

Haiti have a much bigger population, so what is their haul like?
What about Dom Rep, or Venezuela, or Peru?

Popn is not a significant factor here...it may be necessary but certainly not a sufficient factor.

[Willi]

The NL and Uruguay are tiny, but look at them in football!

[Gamma]

willi, willi......WILLI!!!! what does u? consider the source!!!

[Karl]

Karl!!!!

We had one of our best performances in 19 freaking 48.

From then till now, we have had several lean harvests at the Olys and popn was always growing in that time.

Haiti have a much bigger population, so what is their haul like?
What about Dom Rep, or Venezuela, or Peru?

Popn is not a significant factor here...it may be necessary but certainly not a sufficient factor.

Willi: No one said an increase in population is the only thing that is contibuting to our growing good...excellent results.

Cho man, what about countries with large populations where the %age interested in T&F is minimal and they do poorly at the Oympics? In our case a number of various factors come together that keep giving us good results when compared to countries with much larger populations. You cudda bawl blood...as our population increases and more and more of our kids and more mature athletes - note the rise of MVP and Racers, GC Foster and the like - gain access to our avenues for development in T&F our gains shall increase! In our case population increase and increased access have assisted in more and more of our athletes becoming 'world class'.

[Willi]

I submit that even if we had half the popn and still had MVO/Racers, etc, we would have similar success.

Using your logic, where we have 10 tiomes the popn of Bahamas, you are actually dissing Jam.

R U saying that if Bahamas had 10x their present popn, they would outdo us on the track?

I say that its our superior organization with whatever resources we have that make the difference.

I say that we are organized for maximum efficienecy and efficacy in the sport. If only we would bring those same skill sets and attitudes to other areas of National life.

Again I say, we forget WHO we are! Maybe we need to form a Jamamica Rememberance Movement to RhatidCup.

Is a good thing Bolt remember! You know I did my bit to remind him in 2006.

[Hortical]

I know many great high school athletes who faded away after a few years in American colleges where dem wuk dem like mules, dem get burned out and lose dem enthusiasm. Pity we didn't have a MVP club many years ago. Now talented yutes can train in Jamaica and attend University locally.

[Karl]

I submit that even if we had half the popn and still had MVO/Racers, etc, we would have similar success.

Using your logic, where we have 10 tiomes the popn of Bahamas, you are actually dissing Jam.

R U saying that if Bahamas had 10x their present popn, they would outdo us on the track?

I say that its our superior organization with whatever resources we have that make the difference.

I say that we are organized for maximum efficienecy and efficacy in the sport. If only we would bring those same skill sets and attitudes to other areas of National life.

Again I say, we forget WHO we are! Maybe we need to form a Jamamica Rememberance Movement to RhatidCup.

Is a good thing Bolt remember! You know I did my bit to remind him in 2006.

Population growth and the attendant growth in access to avenues of exposure!

E.g. Without Knockalva there would be no George Kerr? im wudda deh a bush a dig yam hill!

Without these new Secondary Schools and 'scholarships' to the 'traditional high schools' (not necessarily in that order) many are the athletes who would not have gotten a chance at even being seen.

You may argue which came first the population explosion or the building of the schools that then joined ISSA? ...but anyway you cut it the population expolsion meant more of the young working at T&F...and gaining access...!