Students of the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports, coaches, and other sports administrators comprised the majority of the audience for the Howard Aris Memorial Lecture in Kingston on Thursday evening.

This year’s event, put on by the Gibson McCook Relays Organising Committee, was moderated by Jordan Forte and featured a panel consisting of MVP Track Club Head Coach Stephen Francis, Sprintec Track Head Coach and GC Foster Principal Maurice Wilson, Swept Track Club Head Coach Okiele Stewart, and former 400m runner Dwayne Extol.

This year’s topic discussed was “Transitioning of athletes from junior to senior level.”

“In doing a quick check of the rate of transition from top junior athletes to top senior athletes, the numbers vary if you do the research,” Forte said. “But it seems to me that the consensus is that the percentage could be described as relatively low. One particular study suggests that only 23.5 per cent of successful track and field athletes — those ranked in the top 100 at the U-18 level — become successful senior athlete, meaning being ranked within that sphere at the senior level. That particular study also found that 35.4 per cent transition from the Under-20 group to the senior level.

“So, the percentage of athletes who transition successfully from the U-18s to the senior level was lower than those were successful at U-20 level in transitioning to successful athletes at the senior level.”

Forte says the original research for that article was done in 2022.

But Francis said he is not as worried about this issue as other coaches, administrators, and pundits.

“Most of the people you see as juniors are not going to make it as seniors, and it’s the same for every single country worldwide,” he said.

Francis cited physiology as a factor, saying that the better you are at 18 and 19 years old, the less likely it is that you will make significant improvements in your personal bests as you get older. This has to do with the body’s development.

Francis also mentioned the quality of coaches at the high school level as another key factor.

“There are extremely good coaches at the high school level,” he said. “And those athletes, in many cases, are trained similarly to how you train adults. You may say to yourselves, ‘That is not right’, but before you say that, ask yourselves, ‘Why are these kids training in the first place? Why are they going out there every day after school in the sun, sometimes at some schools, twice a day?

“The reason, for the most part, is that they can leave Jamaica. They can get themselves an education, and so on. And to do that, they have to be good. So, you cannot say that they shouldn’t be training hard. They train hard, their coaches train them hard because they all want something for themselves.”

Francis says they are also motivated to train hard because they are being rivalled by athletes from other countries seeking scholarships at American universities and colleges.

Wilson spoke about concerns about heightened expectations on junior athletes, which he says leads to overtraining and burnout.

“If you have a young lady that runs 11.5 seconds (over 100m) in first year Class 2, and she goes to Champs (ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships) in second year Class Two and again runs 11.5, the comments are, ‘She has not improved,” he said. “So, the coaches now attempt to ensure she improves for first-year Class 1. As Stephen mentioned, the ceiling, in terms of performance at a particular age, becomes limited. So, what do we have here? We have burnout, which is mental, being forced to train in the sun like a professional every day; they become demotivated. There’s also overtraining, which is physical. There are issues with the muscles. When you are younger your ligaments are more flexible and you can recover faster from injuries. All of this happens because you are trying to meet expectations.”

For Stewart, the environment plays a role, especially athletes moving to Kingston and now being away from their relatives.

“Let’s look at an athlete moving from the country to come to Kingston,” he said. “Athletes start to make decisions on their own — different peers, different training environment, and in all the ways they would have been getting support from their family and friends. For some of them, the new environment that they are now thrust into, they’re not used to. The decisions they’re now making become a bit wayward. So, in terms of the transition, they’re not doing as well as they would’ve liked to and people are now looking at the system itself in terms of their environment.”

Stewart says distractions arise from this, especially when the financial support they were used to no longer exists.

Extol, who was registered to compete for Wolmer’s Boys’ School in five different events at Champs, when they won in 2010, also saw burnout as a factor. Although athletes are now restricted to only two events, he spoke about the schedule at Champs as holding some responsibility.

“The burnout doesn’t happen at the National Stadium,” he said. “Where it happens is outside of that. The training programmes have some athletes starting as early as August. That’s seven months of preparation. Sometimes, people don’t prepare properly. So, in the background, they miss background training for whatever reason. Then January comes around and they’re in spikes and start to sprint. You get to a five-day competition and you’re running three events plus a relay. What do you think happens? You get hurt. Your hydration and nutrition aren’t looked after in the background.”

Extol also says modern distractions such as social media, poor hydration, and nutrition mean athletes do not rest adequately.

FRANCIS…most of the people you see as juniors are not going to make it as seniors, and it’s the same for every single country worldwide (Collin Reid)

STEWART…for some of them, the new environment that they are now thrust into, they’re not used to (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

WILSON…the ceiling in terms of performance at a particular age becomes limited (Observer file)