Crowd gets behind young Jamaican athletes at Prep Champs

The National Stadium was the scene of three days of intense athletic competition last week, and from the size and din of the crowd, a passer-by could have been forgiven for assuming those competing were experienced veterans of the athletics world.

Mario Heslop of Vaz anchorng His team to victory in 4×100 Meters Class 1 Boys’ on the Final Day of the JISA/Bigga Prep Schools Champs at the National Stadium on Saturday June 18, 2011. – Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

However, the athletes competing in the JISA Prep Schools’ Athletics Championships within the stadium were as young as six years old, and yet their fellow Jamaicans cheered them on as if they would soon be flying off to London to take part in the forthcoming Olympic Games.

As a native Londoner myself, I look forward to witnessing the prowess of the Jamaican athletes in 2012, especially as expectations are low for the Great Britain team, which historically has a less than spectacular record in track and field events! It certainly seems as though Britain could learn from Jamaica when it comes to developing sports stars from an early age.

The level of support shown to the youngsters here was exceptional, and, based on this continued dedication to developing future stars, it is little wonder that Jamaica has such a rich history of success in international athletics.

Fifty schools put forward athletes for the championships, and the end result was hundreds of young Jamaicans, all desperate to prove themselves in this impressive venue in front of a very vocal crowd. With the noise of the same vuvuzelas that were made famous at the World Cup in South Africa last year, and excited spectators threatening to drown out the announcer, the young Jamaicans were spurred on in a venue in which they are likely to compete for years to come.

Defending champions Hydel Prep once again retained their title, impressing throughout the championships, but each of the competing schools had reason to be proud. On this evidence, Jamaican athletics certainly has a bright future.