ONE OF Barbados’ fastest schoolboy athletes has an added incentive to perform outstandingly at this weekend’s CARIFTA Games in Martinique.
Only last week, head coach of the Mississippi University in the United States, Steve Dudley was in Barbados on a scouting mission.
With several other American scouts expected in Martinique to watch the Caribbean’s best junior athletes in action, it appears Dudley was trying to beat his compatriots to the gun in getting a first-hand look at the particular athlete while also trying to put in the necessary paperwork.
But even though he didn’t name the athlete he came to the island specially to see, there was a clear hint who the American was targeting.
Dudley was spotted at the National Stadium not only speaking with the athlete’s parents but also talking to the athlete’s coach, Adrian Thorne, who is also head coach of the High Performance Programme (HPP).
“I’m here to scout talent. I am looking for some high school kids to come to Mississippi State University to get a better education as well as to run for Mississippi State,” he told MIDWEEK?SPORT in an exclusive interview.
Dudley was very guarded about revealing why he is interested in the athlete who won a gold medal and a silver in his two individual events at last year’s CARIFTA?Games in the Bahamas and is once again a member of the 35-member Barbados team.
“Unfortunately, the rules that we have governing us in the US, I cannot speak about actual individuals until they actually sign a document that say they are coming to our school.
“I wish I could say exactly who I am here to see. Obviously, there is at least one person I am here to see but I can’t mention their name on the record,” he noted, while revealing that another Barbadian, discus thrower Leah Bannister had already signed up for Mississippi State University.
Dudley noted that while he is aware of the encouraging times recorded by the athlete, who was also competed at the World Youth Championship in Ukraine last year, he is also open to looking at other Barbadian athletes.
Planting sprouts
“I am just trying to plant sprouts. Maybe I would be the first one to notice the talent before some of the other coaches in the universities in the States. They are home now behind the computer and I am down here trying to find them. Sometimes, you can’t look at a particular time, or distance of a jump or the distance of a throw . . . unless you are actually out here and see them sprint, jump or see them throw and I might be able to train that particular person,” he stressed.
Dudley contended there are a number of benefits which Barbadian athletes could get from an athletic scholarship, especially at Mississippi.
“They will get a number of competitions during the year and will get to compete more against better competition every single weekend,” he said.
“They will get to race 20 weekends in a year against some high calibre athletes where the best will come out of them,” he added.
“In the US, a lot of the kids play American football and basketball. There is not as much interest in track and field, whereas down here in the Caribbean there is a lot more interest,” Dudley noted.
Dudley said he was also hoping to visit other Caribbean countries like Jamaica and Grenada to gauge the standard of high school athletes.
“This is my first time in Barbados and I am trying not to be narrow-minded. You don’t just have talent in one island, you can have talent in all the islands so we, myself as well as my staff back at home, will do a better job by coming to a lot of different islands and trying to find talent because no one knows what is here,” he said.
“The Caribbean islands have produced athletes that came to the US and did quite well,” he added.