WITH the Intercollegiate Track & Field and Cheerleading Championships fast approaching, the Intercollegiate Sports Association and its member institutions must be lauded for their efforts in developing quality sporting talents.

Through its members, the intercollegiate system has consistently produced quality professional athletes, past and present, who have gone on to represent the country and region on the international stage.

Names like Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson and, more recently, Hansle Parchment and Stephanie McPherson have all been beneficiaries of the developmental upgrades that intercollegiate training and participation has facilitated.

However, Intercol has long worked quietly behind the scenes while playing a strong role in the development of athletes in over 10 sports. Students who leave on international scholarships, high school, prep and primary competitions tend to take up most of the headlines, thus overshadowing the local collegiate circuit.

With improved facilities and coaching methods, however, Intercol is beginning to emerge from the shadows and is directly linked to the performances of the “locally prepared” athletes on the international stage.

“Since I have been a part of the intercol administration, we have made a committed effort to bring to light the work being done not just by the association itself, but also by its members which are the tertiary institutions across the island. Intercol can be considered the middle passage or bridge between high school sport and senior competition, and a number of our nation’s stars are given the necessary support and platform within the colleges to become the best they can be.”

One could look at Asafa Powell, for example, who was not well known and had no great expectations when he stepped away from ISSA Boys’ and Girls’ Championships.

While at UTech, Powell subsequently emerged as the world’s fastest man, and is still the sprinter with the most sub-10 times over 100m. Results like these have persuaded more and more Jamaican youngsters to remain at home for their training and education, hence Intercol becomes even more integral as the number of student-athletes substantially increases within the tertiary institutions.

Hansle Parchment is also another excellent example of the development of talent at the Intercol level. Parchment entered UWI as a promising athlete, having represented the country at the World Youth level, but had been sidetracked, even competing in the heptathlon rather than the 110mh in his final year of Champs at KC.

However, having moved unto UWI, he was able to develop his talent with excellent coaching and a new and vibrant scholarship programme to the heights of becoming the national record holder and bronze medallist in the event at the 2012 London Olympic games.

Parchment’s success not only exemplifies the strength of the intercol programme, but is reference to the fact that local coaches and programmes have become the benchmark in athletics.

There has been a shift in the mindset, and this may very well be in part due to the quiet work that intercol does behind the scenes, where several top youngsters are now remaining in Jamaica for training and education. In track and field, names such as Julian Forte, Odail Todd, Kedisha Dallas, Carrie Russell, Janivive Russell, Jason Young and even Great Britain’s Delano Williams all train and go to school in Jamaica.

The Intercollegiate Championships 2014 from April 4-5, will be a showcase of the talented young men and women who now make up the contingent of sporting talent being coached and educated at the island’s tertiary institutions.