At the 7th IAAF World Youth Championship held in Lille, France July 6-10, the T&T delegation of eight athletes returned home without earning a single medal. Trevor James, president of the Quantum Track Club, which had three members (Machel Cedenio, Jareem Richards, and Onika Murray) competing in France, reflected recently on the performances.
“Our overall performance was good but we could have done much better. We walked away from this as a positive learning experience,” James noted. “We are doing very well but there is room for improvement. We need to continue to educate our coaches at the youth level and improvement our training.”
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From left, Machel Cedenio,Jereem Richards and
Onika Murray work out for World Juniors.
Photo Courtesy of Trevor James
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James was elated with the performance of 16-year-old Machel Cedenio, the reigning Carifta 200m and 400m champion, who ran a personal best 46.89secs in the men’s 400m to finish in 4th place. “We have Hezekiel Romeo doing very well in the shot put with a throw of 19.68 (PB) and finishing 9th overall; Jareem Richards, who has a personal best 21.47 in the 200m, made it to the semi-finals; and Ruebin Walters has a personal best [14.01] in the 110m hurdles and also made it to the semi-finals.”
As far as preparation is concern, James pointed out that the Trinidad standards for its young athletes are more stringent than those of the IAAF. He noted that the mental part of the preparation could have been better if the team had gone to France three days earlier because the weather was somewhat erratic. “Travel was rough, but as youngsters, each individual responds differently in the same environment. Jamaica and Bahamas were in France earlier and they did very well,” James reflected, emphasizing that the mental preparation was very challenging from the squad due to the differences in time-zones as well as travel by bus and trains.
As to why his team was not in France earlier, James explained that “The athletes were in the middle of exams. Some were taking the CXC’s exams, and parents were concerned [about them leaving school early to go overseas]. We delayed leaving for France as long as we could. We left for France even before school closed.”