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Let's say NO to overwork at Champs
Saturday, April 11, 2009
As the boys' section of the GraceKennedy-sponsored high schools athletic championships came down to the wire a week ago, we watched in awe as the Calabar High School star, Mr Ramone McKenzie, made one last final effort to help his school to the prized championship title.
Calabar and eventual champions Kingston College (KC) had come down to this final track event - the 4x400 metre relay - to decide who would take the boys' title for 2009. To ensure the championship, Calabar had to win the race.
Much would depend on the Class One 400m and 200m champion, Mr McKenzie.
There were collective groans - not just from the Calabar supporters but also from sentimental neutrals - as muscle fatigue set in for Mr McKenzie in the last 200 metres. He faded, and so did his school's title bid.
For some of us watching on TV, there was annoyance when commentators said young Mr McKenzie was "unfortunately, not at his best..." For Pete's sake, how could he be at his best? That 4x400m relay just happened to be his fifth race on that final day of Champs.
For the record, Mr McKenzie, who is 18 years old, had raced in the semi-final of the 200 metres in the morning. Later that day, he would win the 200m and the 400m - the latter event often described in athletic circles as "pure pain" because of its optimal balance of speed and endurance. And prior to his final, fruitless effort, Mr McKenzie had helped his school to the 4x100m relay title. After all the earlier work, Mr McKenzie could only have been at his best in that final event had he been Super Man.
And that, to us, is a problem. All too often, it seems to us, individual athletes, especially among the boys at Champs, are treated like super men - given extraordinarily heavy workloads all because of the desire by the particular school to win the prestigious title.
The practice is not new. It has gone on for virtually the entirety of the 99-year history of Boys' Champs. Nor is the criticism new. Down the years, coaches, doctors, top athletes - active and retired - journalists and others have argued the need for greater restrictions on the work load at Champs in order to minimise injuries and excess muscle and mental fatigue that could threaten an athlete's career. It's been whispered for decades, that the reason so few of our male teenage stars from the so-called "top schools" go on to greatness on the international stage is directly traceable to "burn-out" at Champs.
The trouble is that down the years those criticisms and whispers have been far too muted.
We need to recognise that Mr McKenzie's workload on that final day would never have occurred at the highest levels of track athletics.
So, if it doesn't happen among adults, why are fragile, growing teenagers exposed to such overwork? It shouldn't be that the school's triumph at Champs comes at the expense of the individual athlete.
In this space, this newspaper has often trumpeted the extraordinary contribution of the annual high schools' championships to Jamaica's position as a track powerhouse on the global stage. Clearly though, there is a real weakness in the potential for overwork. The Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), which so admirably organises Champs, needs to move with urgency in collaboration with coaches to protect teenage athletes.
Just as importantly, it seems to us, the many coaches, doctors, athletes, journalists, etc who have watched with disapproval down the years need to stop whispering and begin shouting from the treetops.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
As the boys' section of the GraceKennedy-sponsored high schools athletic championships came down to the wire a week ago, we watched in awe as the Calabar High School star, Mr Ramone McKenzie, made one last final effort to help his school to the prized championship title.
Calabar and eventual champions Kingston College (KC) had come down to this final track event - the 4x400 metre relay - to decide who would take the boys' title for 2009. To ensure the championship, Calabar had to win the race.
Much would depend on the Class One 400m and 200m champion, Mr McKenzie.
There were collective groans - not just from the Calabar supporters but also from sentimental neutrals - as muscle fatigue set in for Mr McKenzie in the last 200 metres. He faded, and so did his school's title bid.
For some of us watching on TV, there was annoyance when commentators said young Mr McKenzie was "unfortunately, not at his best..." For Pete's sake, how could he be at his best? That 4x400m relay just happened to be his fifth race on that final day of Champs.
For the record, Mr McKenzie, who is 18 years old, had raced in the semi-final of the 200 metres in the morning. Later that day, he would win the 200m and the 400m - the latter event often described in athletic circles as "pure pain" because of its optimal balance of speed and endurance. And prior to his final, fruitless effort, Mr McKenzie had helped his school to the 4x100m relay title. After all the earlier work, Mr McKenzie could only have been at his best in that final event had he been Super Man.
And that, to us, is a problem. All too often, it seems to us, individual athletes, especially among the boys at Champs, are treated like super men - given extraordinarily heavy workloads all because of the desire by the particular school to win the prestigious title.
The practice is not new. It has gone on for virtually the entirety of the 99-year history of Boys' Champs. Nor is the criticism new. Down the years, coaches, doctors, top athletes - active and retired - journalists and others have argued the need for greater restrictions on the work load at Champs in order to minimise injuries and excess muscle and mental fatigue that could threaten an athlete's career. It's been whispered for decades, that the reason so few of our male teenage stars from the so-called "top schools" go on to greatness on the international stage is directly traceable to "burn-out" at Champs.
The trouble is that down the years those criticisms and whispers have been far too muted.
We need to recognise that Mr McKenzie's workload on that final day would never have occurred at the highest levels of track athletics.
So, if it doesn't happen among adults, why are fragile, growing teenagers exposed to such overwork? It shouldn't be that the school's triumph at Champs comes at the expense of the individual athlete.
In this space, this newspaper has often trumpeted the extraordinary contribution of the annual high schools' championships to Jamaica's position as a track powerhouse on the global stage. Clearly though, there is a real weakness in the potential for overwork. The Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), which so admirably organises Champs, needs to move with urgency in collaboration with coaches to protect teenage athletes.
Just as importantly, it seems to us, the many coaches, doctors, athletes, journalists, etc who have watched with disapproval down the years need to stop whispering and begin shouting from the treetops.
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