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MVP NEEDS A CHANGE OF APPROACH
In the last decade or so many of Jamaica’s elite track and field athletes have chosen to stay home to either study, train or both. The decision has yielded great benefits for these athletes and by extension, Jamaica.
Brigitte Foster – Hylton, Shericka Williams, Asafa Powell, Melaine Walker, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Warren Weir, Yohan Blake, Hansle Parchment, Shelly Ann Frazer – Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Kemar Bailey- Cole and of course, the legend himself, Usain Bolt, have reaped the bulk of the medals since 2004 at the major championships, all while training here in Jamaica.
The success of the local based athletes speaks in part to the strength of the two main clubs here in Jamaica the Stephen Francis led MVP Track Club and Racers, headed by sprint guru Glen Mills. MVP led the way in helping shift the paradigm wherein athletes are now choosing to stay home as opposed to taking up scholarship opportunities to American universities. The success has not been lost on the US colleges who are finding it harder to recruit the best of local talent like they once used to.
They are now resigned to the reality that perhaps it is best that Jamaica’s top athletes stay home. “The great ones probably should stay at home; those that are really at the top of the game should stay in Jamaica and continue their development there,” noted Pat Henry, head coach at Texas A&M University, a school that helped in the development of national representatives Howard ‘Bird Man’ Davis, Simone Facey and Richard Bucknor.
In recent times, emerging talents like Janieve Russell and Rushane McDonald, have transitioned from high school to the University of Technology/MVP set up as they hope to successfully make that step up to the professional ranks. Over by Mona, we see an even better quality making the move to the University of the West Indies/Racers arrangement. In the past few years Warren Weir and Yohan Blake have made that move with tremendous success and high school standouts Jazeel Murphy, Delano Williams, Shericka Jackson,and several others have either joined that programme or are on their way there.
The success realized by these two clubs should be paving the way for others to perhaps pursue similar arrangements with other institutions across the island, synergies that will hopefully produce even more athletes of international quality in a wider field of disciplines. My sources tell me that a major sports apparel brand had pursued such a possibility a few years back but some of the local coaches could not agree to work together so the company withdrew their offer. So, until we can get a few more clubs to start to produce athletes of the required quality, the bulk of the responsibility of producing world-beating athletes lies squarely on the shoulders of these two clubs. It is with this in mind why I fear for the future of one of them given the almost consistent controversy that continues to dog it.
Francis and MVP have done great things in the decade or so since they came into existence. In 2008 in Beijing, Simpson, Frazer – Pryce, Frater, Carter, Walker, and Williams all individual and relay medalists at the Olympic Games were from MVP. In more recent times however, their fortunes have dwindled. Frazer – Pryce was the only individual medalist from MVP at the London 2012 games. Since that time, the club has lost two of its medalists to the Racers Club with the possibility that others could follow.
Michael Frater and now Melaine Walker have left the club under controversial circumstances with both athletes making claims about the head coach’s arrogance, bullying methods and his penchant for paying attention only to the athletes he likes. He had not disputed those allegations. There have been confirmed reports that other athletes were actually on the verge of departure as well. Sherone Simpson, for example, was reportedly on her way to Racers when she was persuaded to stay with the club. Emerging 400-hurdler Ristanana Tracey and sprinter Kimani Roach have also migrated across to the UWI-based club citing better training conditions and a coach who is more like a father rather than a dictator.
Earlier on in the life of the club Francis prided himself on taking athletes low on self-belief and transforming them into champions. “Even somebody with the highest quality like Michael Frater; nobody believes much in him. He is always the person everybody seems to think is going to get left out and Brigitte, people told her she should be a fashion model and leave the running alone. Given that this was the background of most of the athletes, what it meant was that they did not know as youngsters how to win, how to become champions, how to accommodate pressure,” Francis was quoted as saying in a Gleaner story published in July, 2008, mere weeks before the Beijing Olympics that year.
No doubt the genius coach prided himself on the God-like role he played in the life of his athletes. But as time has passed and these athletes became winners, a lot has started to change. No longer could Francis maintain his psychological hold over some of them. He didn’t even have control over them just prior to the start of the Olympics that year. During his now infamous bust up with the JAAA’s over the proposed training camp the athletes were to have attended prior to the start of the Games, Francis gave his athletes an ultimatum. If they went to the JAAA’s camp, he would not give them their programmes that would prepare them for the Games. As it turned out all the athletes turned up at the JAAA camp before the stated deadline. After all, that is what they train for, to excel at the Olympics.
Yes, many of his athletes have remained loyal but their loyalty does not necessarily mean they agree with his methods. A lot of his athletes were irked when the extremely popular Frater left the club earlier this year after Francis accused him of betrayal. The accusation came after Frater, who has ambitions in politics after he hangs up his spikes, expressed his intention to run on the Dr. Warren Blake slate for the JAAA elections last November.
Walker just wanted to pursue her lifelong dream of running the 100m hurdles. Walker expressed to me that when she joined the MVP Track it was on the understanding that she would be allowed to pursue her dream as a sprint hurdler. She upheld her end of the bargain better than anyone could have ever imagined. Under Francis’ guidance she became Olympic and World Champion and won a silver at the World Championships in Daegu despite running hurt. She also became the second fastest in history 52.42, just 0.07 seconds off the existing world record. Having accomplished all that she decided it was time she collected. However, Francis, when it was time for him to live up to his end of the bargain, dismissed Walker’s ambitions as frivolous. What gives him the right to do that?
He is her coach. She pays him to coach her. If she has a desire to see if she could do something special in the sprint hurdles, having run 12.75s as a youngster in 2006, mere months before she joined the club, the very least he should have done is help her realize her dreams, not dash them.
Of course, he has the right to refuse, but then he did have a verbal agreement with Walker, one that he has refused to fulfill. He has breached his agreement with her and with it her trust as well.
This is yet another public relations nightmare for a club that has had more than its fair share of controversies in the last decade. Francis’ sympathizers will always find excuses for his actions, but the bigger picture is what eludes them. The current champions from Champs, who are considering staying home have started to shy away from the club. Look at those going to Racers now. They are the best of the crop. The creme de la creme. Winners don’t like to be told what they can or can not do. Limitations mean nothing to them, that’s why they became champions. Worse, they don’t like being bullied. It is why I have always felt that Francis and Bolt would never have worked well together. The my way or the high-way approach will not work in this new era of Jamaica’s track and field, not when options are available. If they stay away, after Frazer- Pryce, Spencer and Powell move on who will be the ones bringing in the medals and more importantly, the money for MVP?
At the same time, until another club or two emerges, Racers, with their aging head coach with the special touch, can not possibly accommodate everyone. It is not physically possible. It is against this background that MVP needs to be strong and vibrant if Jamaica is to continue producing the type of athletes that will continue to bring the country success. If that is to happen, Francis, his brother, and club president Bruce James need to take a long serious look at their approach to how things are done within the club. They need to replace the collective arrogance with a more accommodating approach but one that will not compromise their standards. Athletes need to have peace of mind and a working environment that breeds success. What we have seen from MVP in more recent times is anything but that.
For the sake of their own existence and the continued success of Jamaica’s track and field, I believe the time has come for MVP to look within and clean up their act. It could very well be the difference between their continued success in the years to come and the road to ruin.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1833
In the last decade or so many of Jamaica’s elite track and field athletes have chosen to stay home to either study, train or both. The decision has yielded great benefits for these athletes and by extension, Jamaica.
Brigitte Foster – Hylton, Shericka Williams, Asafa Powell, Melaine Walker, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Warren Weir, Yohan Blake, Hansle Parchment, Shelly Ann Frazer – Pryce, Sherone Simpson, Kemar Bailey- Cole and of course, the legend himself, Usain Bolt, have reaped the bulk of the medals since 2004 at the major championships, all while training here in Jamaica.
The success of the local based athletes speaks in part to the strength of the two main clubs here in Jamaica the Stephen Francis led MVP Track Club and Racers, headed by sprint guru Glen Mills. MVP led the way in helping shift the paradigm wherein athletes are now choosing to stay home as opposed to taking up scholarship opportunities to American universities. The success has not been lost on the US colleges who are finding it harder to recruit the best of local talent like they once used to.
They are now resigned to the reality that perhaps it is best that Jamaica’s top athletes stay home. “The great ones probably should stay at home; those that are really at the top of the game should stay in Jamaica and continue their development there,” noted Pat Henry, head coach at Texas A&M University, a school that helped in the development of national representatives Howard ‘Bird Man’ Davis, Simone Facey and Richard Bucknor.
In recent times, emerging talents like Janieve Russell and Rushane McDonald, have transitioned from high school to the University of Technology/MVP set up as they hope to successfully make that step up to the professional ranks. Over by Mona, we see an even better quality making the move to the University of the West Indies/Racers arrangement. In the past few years Warren Weir and Yohan Blake have made that move with tremendous success and high school standouts Jazeel Murphy, Delano Williams, Shericka Jackson,and several others have either joined that programme or are on their way there.
The success realized by these two clubs should be paving the way for others to perhaps pursue similar arrangements with other institutions across the island, synergies that will hopefully produce even more athletes of international quality in a wider field of disciplines. My sources tell me that a major sports apparel brand had pursued such a possibility a few years back but some of the local coaches could not agree to work together so the company withdrew their offer. So, until we can get a few more clubs to start to produce athletes of the required quality, the bulk of the responsibility of producing world-beating athletes lies squarely on the shoulders of these two clubs. It is with this in mind why I fear for the future of one of them given the almost consistent controversy that continues to dog it.
Francis and MVP have done great things in the decade or so since they came into existence. In 2008 in Beijing, Simpson, Frazer – Pryce, Frater, Carter, Walker, and Williams all individual and relay medalists at the Olympic Games were from MVP. In more recent times however, their fortunes have dwindled. Frazer – Pryce was the only individual medalist from MVP at the London 2012 games. Since that time, the club has lost two of its medalists to the Racers Club with the possibility that others could follow.
Michael Frater and now Melaine Walker have left the club under controversial circumstances with both athletes making claims about the head coach’s arrogance, bullying methods and his penchant for paying attention only to the athletes he likes. He had not disputed those allegations. There have been confirmed reports that other athletes were actually on the verge of departure as well. Sherone Simpson, for example, was reportedly on her way to Racers when she was persuaded to stay with the club. Emerging 400-hurdler Ristanana Tracey and sprinter Kimani Roach have also migrated across to the UWI-based club citing better training conditions and a coach who is more like a father rather than a dictator.
Earlier on in the life of the club Francis prided himself on taking athletes low on self-belief and transforming them into champions. “Even somebody with the highest quality like Michael Frater; nobody believes much in him. He is always the person everybody seems to think is going to get left out and Brigitte, people told her she should be a fashion model and leave the running alone. Given that this was the background of most of the athletes, what it meant was that they did not know as youngsters how to win, how to become champions, how to accommodate pressure,” Francis was quoted as saying in a Gleaner story published in July, 2008, mere weeks before the Beijing Olympics that year.
No doubt the genius coach prided himself on the God-like role he played in the life of his athletes. But as time has passed and these athletes became winners, a lot has started to change. No longer could Francis maintain his psychological hold over some of them. He didn’t even have control over them just prior to the start of the Olympics that year. During his now infamous bust up with the JAAA’s over the proposed training camp the athletes were to have attended prior to the start of the Games, Francis gave his athletes an ultimatum. If they went to the JAAA’s camp, he would not give them their programmes that would prepare them for the Games. As it turned out all the athletes turned up at the JAAA camp before the stated deadline. After all, that is what they train for, to excel at the Olympics.
Yes, many of his athletes have remained loyal but their loyalty does not necessarily mean they agree with his methods. A lot of his athletes were irked when the extremely popular Frater left the club earlier this year after Francis accused him of betrayal. The accusation came after Frater, who has ambitions in politics after he hangs up his spikes, expressed his intention to run on the Dr. Warren Blake slate for the JAAA elections last November.
Walker just wanted to pursue her lifelong dream of running the 100m hurdles. Walker expressed to me that when she joined the MVP Track it was on the understanding that she would be allowed to pursue her dream as a sprint hurdler. She upheld her end of the bargain better than anyone could have ever imagined. Under Francis’ guidance she became Olympic and World Champion and won a silver at the World Championships in Daegu despite running hurt. She also became the second fastest in history 52.42, just 0.07 seconds off the existing world record. Having accomplished all that she decided it was time she collected. However, Francis, when it was time for him to live up to his end of the bargain, dismissed Walker’s ambitions as frivolous. What gives him the right to do that?
He is her coach. She pays him to coach her. If she has a desire to see if she could do something special in the sprint hurdles, having run 12.75s as a youngster in 2006, mere months before she joined the club, the very least he should have done is help her realize her dreams, not dash them.
Of course, he has the right to refuse, but then he did have a verbal agreement with Walker, one that he has refused to fulfill. He has breached his agreement with her and with it her trust as well.
This is yet another public relations nightmare for a club that has had more than its fair share of controversies in the last decade. Francis’ sympathizers will always find excuses for his actions, but the bigger picture is what eludes them. The current champions from Champs, who are considering staying home have started to shy away from the club. Look at those going to Racers now. They are the best of the crop. The creme de la creme. Winners don’t like to be told what they can or can not do. Limitations mean nothing to them, that’s why they became champions. Worse, they don’t like being bullied. It is why I have always felt that Francis and Bolt would never have worked well together. The my way or the high-way approach will not work in this new era of Jamaica’s track and field, not when options are available. If they stay away, after Frazer- Pryce, Spencer and Powell move on who will be the ones bringing in the medals and more importantly, the money for MVP?
At the same time, until another club or two emerges, Racers, with their aging head coach with the special touch, can not possibly accommodate everyone. It is not physically possible. It is against this background that MVP needs to be strong and vibrant if Jamaica is to continue producing the type of athletes that will continue to bring the country success. If that is to happen, Francis, his brother, and club president Bruce James need to take a long serious look at their approach to how things are done within the club. They need to replace the collective arrogance with a more accommodating approach but one that will not compromise their standards. Athletes need to have peace of mind and a working environment that breeds success. What we have seen from MVP in more recent times is anything but that.
For the sake of their own existence and the continued success of Jamaica’s track and field, I believe the time has come for MVP to look within and clean up their act. It could very well be the difference between their continued success in the years to come and the road to ruin.
http://gleanerblogs.com/sports/?p=1833
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