Trevor Barry honored by BAAA

Sun, Oct 9th 2011, 08:10 AM

The Bahamas' newest athletics star, high jumper Trevor Barry, was lauded with a grand reception inside the foyer of the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium last evening.
Since returning home last week Thursday, Barry has been busy appearing on talk shows, visiting schools, and paying courtesy calls on dignitaries, most recently Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Yesterday was a time for him to mix and mingle with family and friends though, as they came together to celebrate his historic performance at the recently held International Association of Athletic Federations' (IAAF) World Outdoor Championships.
"I'm just grateful for the support," said Barry yesterday. "It was an honor and privilege to represent the beautiful country of The Bahamas. It's been a long journey but through the support of family and friends I made it through. I'd like to personally thank my coach, Mr. Parker, and Ronald Cartwright for his assistance in Daegu. Everyone came out here and showed support today and I'm grateful for that. I really appreciate it. It is an indescribable feeling. I couldn't have asked for a warmer reception," he added.
With a personal best clearance of 2.32 meters (m) - 7' 7-1/4" - at the Daegu World Championships, Barry secured the country's only medal at the biennial championships - a bronze. That performance continued a trend for The Bahamas of at least one medal for the country in every IAAF World Championships since 1995. Barry actually led the competition up until the 2.32m height before settling for third. He was clean up until that point, but knocked down the bar on all three attempts at 2.35m (7' 8-1/2"). American Jesse Williams and Russian Aleksey Dmitrik both cleared 2.35m and finished first and second respectively.
Timely advice from half-way across the world played a major role in Barry being able to set his new personal best of 2.32m, thereby winning the bronze medal. In a telephone call the evening before the final, personal coach Keith Parker advised him, from here in The Bahamas, to pass on the 2.29m (7' 6") height and go after the 2.32m mark. That strategy worked to perfection as Barry was able to clear the 2.32m height cleanly on his first attempt. Barry showed his gratitude with a presentation to Parker yesterday evening.
"Even though 2.29 was his previous best height, we decided that 2.29 wouldn't do him any good at all," said Parker yesterday. "At the next height, if you saw the jump, he had a good three or four centimeters to spare at the 2.32m height which means right now, he is capable of jumping 7' 9". He's continuing to work and I expect him to be faster and stronger next year, which will help him to jump higher. He's very knowledgeable of the event making it very easy to get along with him. After every training session, he always say 'thank-you very much Mr. Parker', and now I can say thank-you very much," added Parker.
The Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) staged the cocktail reception in Barry's honor yesterday, and long-time sponsor Harrison Petty from the Petty Group of Companies along with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the FML Group of Companies showed support.
"Because of Trevor's performance, we are still able to be among the top countries in the world on a per capita basis especially when you take into account that over 200 countries participated and only 40 got medals. Thanks to you, Trevor," said BAAA President Mike Sands last evening. "Trevor has been knocking on the door for quite sometime and because he stayed focused on the four D's - Determination, Desire, Discipline and Dedication - he persevered and for that, we are very thankful."
Sands encouraged the youngsters present to also focus on the four D's as they go through life, and once they would have done that, they would be successful in whatever they do.
Representing the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, Director of Sports in the ministry Timothy Munnings said that they are very proud of Barry's accomplishment and wish him continued success for next year's Olympics and beyond.
"We had high expectations for Team Bahamas, and Trevor saved the day. We were very excited in Daegu as we watched with bated breath the performances of Team Bahamas," said Munnings yesterday. "We were actually looking for two medals in the high jump, but as fate would have it, Donald bowed out and it was up to Trevor. We were counting down the competitors as they missed the height one after the other and finally we were able to celebrate a bronze medal and we congratulate Trevor for that. To all of the team members, we are still very hopeful for very good performances at next year's Olympic Games. We know that the Olympics is the penultimate competition. Congratulations to you Trevor again, congratulations to Mike Sands and the BAAA and everyone who contributed to your success and the overall success of Team Bahamas. We look forward to continued great things next year."
Barry, who has improved his personal best, in almost every season in the past 10 years, is an eight-time All American at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level, a 2008 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships silver medalist, a 2010 CAC Games silver medalist and a 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist. This year, he experienced quite a bit of success as well. He won meets in Brazil, Ireland and the CAC Championships in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. After his bronze medal performance in Daegu, Barry also went on to finish second at the Zurich and Berlin grand prix meets.
As a result of suffering a sprained toe in his last competition, Barry decided to skip this month's Pan Am Games and start preparing for next year. He said that he is looking forward to an even better performance next year.

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