ALL five Junior athletes, including new Youth Olympic Games (YOG) 100-metre champion Odean Skeen of Wolmer's Boys', Janieve Russell of Holmwood and Kingston College's sprint-hurdler Stefan Fennell, are to get extra rest before starting preparations for the next athletics season.

The three were among the five athletes who represented Jamaica at both the World Junior Championships (WJC) in Canada in July as well as the YOG in Singapore in August, which extended their season by a full month.

Vere Technical's Shericka Jackson and Calabar's shot putter Ashinia Miller also made both trips and are to get varying periods of rest.

According to their respective high school coaches, the track athletes could get between four and six weeks of rest and would resume training between mid to late October before being gradually brought back up to full fitness by the time the new season gets into high gear in late February.

Under ordinary circumstances, athletes whose season ended between May and June would resume training in September.

For Skeen and Jackson, the IAAF World Youth Championships (WYC) to be held in Lille, France in July next year will be the highlight of the season and thus will be the main focus, according to their coaches.

Additionally, Skeen and Fennel are both going into fifth form and will have to contend with external examinations, which for both will be a priority.

While denying reports of injuries to Skeen while at the WJC, Wolmer's coach David Riley said the main focus for the youngster was the YOG and thus he was kept out of all individual events in Canada.

Riley said Skeen's rest would be for six weeks, "starting from his last day of competition in Singapore", after which they will start "the general preparation phase to lay the foundation for next season".

With an eye on an expected long 2010 season, Riley said Skeen did not run his first 100-metres race until March at the CARIFTA Trials, and so there was little risk of him being over-worked.

Skeen won two gold medals at the YOG -- the 100 and as part of the Americas sprint medley relay team. He also won sprint double in Class 2 at Boys Champs and in the Under-17 section at both CARIFTA and Central American and Caribbean Junior games.

Maurice Wilson, who conditions Russell at Holmwood, says the first order of business for the multi-talented athlete is to put her through a full medical test, then give her six weeks off before training starts in late October.

Russell ran the 400 and 4x400m relay in Canada and took part in the long jump in Singapore and Wilson said her workload would be monitored leading up to the 2011 season and Champs.

Wilson, who is tipped to head the coaching staff at the Commonwealth Games in India later this year, said at times it is difficult to tell teenaged athletes to back off during competitions.

According to Rahnsomn Edwards, head coach at Vere, the main focus for Jackson would be the WYC and so her training would start in mid to late October.

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