Sonita Sutherland - FILE
IT WAS ANOTHER case of no contest at the 2006 CARIFTA Games in Guadeloupe.
Jamaica's athletes outclassed their Caribbean rivals for the 22nd consecutive year piling up 68 medals, including 39 gold. The Bahamas were a distant second with nine gold medals and Trinidad and Tobago third on eight.
As usual, it was in the track events that Jamaica were most dominant, especially in the relays where they swept all the gold medals. The spread between male and female was almost even in gold and silver medals. The boys took home 19 gold and 11 silver medals while the girls pocketed 20 gold and 10 silver.
THOUGHT FOR THE COACHES
Those who have watched Jamaica's dominance of the meet over the years must spare a thought for the coaches and administrators at the high school level. They are the one who have made this possible. With the CARIFTA games taking place each year just days after the annual Boys and Girls Championships, the country has been able to rely on the work done by the coaches of the respective schools.
All the athletes go to the three-day Games fully fit as they have all been training since last October. Most of the praise should therefore go to the coaches and sponsors of the high schools which provide the bulk of athletes for the meet.
Among these are Kingston College, Holmwood, Edwin Allen, Calabar, Camperdown, Immaculate, St. Jago and Manchester High.
These schools spent millions of dollars on nutrition, medical care, running gear and transportation for the athletes.
CASH INCENTIVE
Perhaps for the future the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) or the Sports Development Foundation can consider giving some incentive to the schools which provide most of the athletes for the meet. For example, in recent years coaches such as Holmwood's Maurice Wilson, Raymond Graham of St. Jago, Edwin Allen's Michael Dyke and Immaculate's Mark Prince have provided several quality female athletes for the CARIFTA team and this should be recognised by giving something back to the schools whether in cash or kind.
While most of the performances at the meet were not better than expected, Holmwood's Sonita Sutherlaned and Natoya Goule of Manchester High along with the record-breaking girls and boys 4x400m produced excellent displays.
Sutherland who clocked a record 51.30 at the meet is definitely on the brink of being the next Jamaican female star over 400m. Internationally the event is not very strong and with normal improvement she can break into the top league within a year. I think both Sutherland and Kalise Spencer who also ran under 52 seconds at the CARIFTA Games should be groomed for the 400m and 800m.
Sutherland looked very good coming from behind in the Class One 800m final at Boys and Girls Championships while Spencer is also a past Class Two 800m champion.
Goule has shown a great deal of versatility in distances from 400m to 3,000m and looks to be something special even at this early stage. She won the Under-17 800m and 1,500m in record times and was also a member of the winning Under-17 4x400m quartet.
One cannot go overboard in her case as there have been many outstanding young athletes who have done well in her events over the years. Evette Turner of Vere Technical in the 1990s was even better than Goule at this same stage of her development and she never represented Jamaica at the senior level. There is a long way to go therefore, but she has made a good start and should be given all the encouragement.
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