Barbados’ athletics future is bright despite the youthful team returning home last night from the 47th Flow CARIFTA Games in Nassau with 13 medals.
With 20 of the 26 athletes eligible to compete again, head coach Alwyn Babb reckons Barbados can raise the bar and return to heights of past years by capturing over 20 medals.
“I think that when we look at the overall performance of the team, not only medal winners, there is much hope for the future,” Babb told MIDWEEK SPORT.
“There are a number of athletes who will be returning for CARIFTA in the next year and I believe that with those persons who are here as first-timers and are coming back, the exposure would’ve done them well,” he said.
Just three athletes, Under-17 Girls’ discus queen Shanice Hutson, back-to-back Under-20 Boys’ 800 champion Jonathan Jones and Under-20 Boys’ triple jump winner, Jonathan Miller gained gold medals.
Barbados also captured five silver and five bronze to finish fourth overall in the medal table with Jamaica continuing their dominance at this level of competition with a whopping 82 medals.
In winning the overall title, the large 78-member squad captured 44 gold, 27 silver and 15 bronze.
Host country, the Bahamas were second with 35 medals – six gold, 14 silver and 15 bronze with Trinidad and Tobago third on 17 medals after collecting four gold, six silver and seven bronze. Barbados, who gained 12 medals last year in Curacao, could’ve had a fourth gold medal, but Kyle Gale was disqualified for a lane infringement after winning the Under-17 Boys’ 400 metres in what would’ve been a record time of 47.07 seconds.
Babb urged athletes who didn’t make this year’s CARIFTA not to lose faith.
“For those who are at home who had some good performances at Inter-School Sports [Barbados Secondary Schools Athletics Championships] outside the selection period, I think that they should be motivated enough to make sure that they get prepare and get ready for CARIFTA next year.
Babb has already identified some areas where Barbados need to work on.
“I think we have great prospects in the Under-17 division and there are some events that we need to do some homework in. We got only one medal in the jumps but I think there is a lot of room for improvement.
He also want to see Barbados striking gold in the hurdles events again like in past years.
“We need to reclaim a lot of ground in the hurdles that we have given away to Jamaica,” he added.
The experienced Babb, who had not coached the CARIFTA team for many years, said he is keen on helping to mould the careers of the current crop of athletes.
“Personally, I had stopped coming to CARIFTA but because of this, I believe that I am motivated as a coach to ensure that this young group continue to work hard to get back our medal count up to over 25 and approaching 30 in the next two or three years,” he said.
He urged Barbadians to rally behind the country’s young athletes.
“Criticism will come nonetheless but these athletes worked extremely hard. Some were able to perform much better and record personal bests. It did not result in a medal but we have to recognise that these are young developing athletes.
Babb said the inability to gain medals didn’t determine the destiny of all athletes.
“There is a possibility that a person who did not win a medal at CARIFTA can go on to be a world beater but we have to make sure that as supporters, as the general athletics public, the persons that love athletics that we encourage them from year to year instead of criticising their performances,” Babb declared.
“These are children. They need support not criticism,” he insisted.
While Babb welcomes a bigger team, he feels the emphasis should be on quality and not necessarily quantity.
“In terms of numbers but if you take a big team to CARIFTA people are going to expect big returns. When you look at the qualifying standards and you look at the performance level, I think the coaches should be motivated enough, not only to look at the qualifying standards, because in some instances, the qualifying standard that you are trying to attain, is based on the fourth or sixth place position.
“It does not guarantee you a medal and I saying, that all our coaches like myself, that the challenges are to look at where the ball park area for time or distances that the medals will fall and work with that athlete to make sure that when we leave Barbados, they have not only reached the qualifying standard but we can say that this person is a medal contender,” Babb contended.
Next year’s Games will be held in the Cayman Islands. (EZS)
