KINGSTON, Jamaica - For quite a few years now, many have wondered where the tiny island nation of Jamaica gets its athletic prowess.
Many attribute it to the mountainous landscape of the Caribbean country, or even its natural running culture and ability. One would even say that the coaches and camps themselves are top notch, producing in recent times the absolute best sprinters in the world.
Well, in addition to all of that, although it's not exclusively for Jamaicans, is the Caribbean's only International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) High Performance Training Centre (HPTC).
The center, which is located on the University of West Indies' (UWI) Mona Campus just outside of New Kingston, currently houses nine developmental athletes ranging from ages 18-23 - eight young men and one female.
It's truly a global setting as more than half of the athletes are from the other side of the world - four from Mauritius and one from Maldives. The other four athletes are from the Caribbean - Jamaica, Dominica, Montserrat and Anguilla.
There are only about eight such centers in the world and Jamaica is blessed to have one of them. It is a breeding ground for the world's best athletes, including a very young and talented Usain Bolt about a decade ago. In fact, Bolt and his Racers Club teammates share a training venue with the young athletic hopefuls from the HPTC.
Jacqueline 'Nikki' Miller, daughter of the late Neville 'Teddy' McCook, a long-time IAAF Council member and NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association) area head, said that the center quarantines the athletes and allows them to train under some of the best coaches in the world.
Patrick Dawson and Leo Brown are the coaches in place at the center, but they also get guidance and technical support from Glen Mills as well. Mills is the world renowned coach of the Racers Track Club featuring Bolt, Yohan Blake and Warren Weir just to name a few.
"I really enjoy looking after the boys (and one girl) and taking care of them. We at the center expect to see improvement in the performances as we go along, and we have been," said Miller, director of the center. "Some of the athletes were able to break national record[s] in their respective countries, and that in itself is a tremendous accomplishment.
"Also, the support for one another is just tremendous. These guys do everything together, and we like that. When one is participating in a particular meet, the others go down to the track and show their support. What we're trying to do here at the HPTC is get them to participate in quite a few development meets, and really get them prepared for the next Olympics - 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We feel as if they are on target."
The center itself, which specializes in sprints, hurdles and the horizontal jumps, opened its doors at its current location in 2009. The athletes have access to an ideal training ground on the UWI campus, a world-class gymnasium and the national stadium, which once hosted the IAAF World Junior Championships. Miller said this year's crop is the best set of athletes that they have had at the center thus far - extremely high praise seeing that the facility once housed multi Olympic and World Champion, and multi world record holder Usain Bolt.
The high performance training centers throughout the world are fully funded by the IAAF once athletes themselves would have qualified and met the required standards. However, there are also funds available through Olympic solidarity once requested by the respective national federations of the various countries.
Generally, Bahamian athletes prefer the route of tertiary institutions in the United States which has been beneficial, but as proven, the HPTC in Jamaica could be advantageous as well. Certainly, no one could question the success rate of the facility.
"What you find with a lot of the Caribbean athletes is that a lot of the coaches would want to keep their athletes, especially if they see the potential in the athletes," said Miller. "Even though some national federations don't have the necessary coaches in place, they would want to keep those athletes. We in the center are trying to convince them because we are seeing the results now.
"At this point, we're hoping to have a more interactive thing - perhaps something on the NACAC website where we could have an application process and let everyone become aware of it. Right now we have nine athletes, and we want to accommodate at least 15. For the most part, it's a matter of trying to get the Caribbean athletes to apply. Once we could encourage them to start the process early, then we can do the evaluations and know who we'll accept."
Two of the athletes who are at the HPTC in Kingston are in school, led by their representative Zharnel Hughes of Anguilla who will be one of the athletes to watch at this week's Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) Boys and Girls Championships, commonly known as 'Champs'.
Hughes, who attends Kingston College, will also be going after the sprint double at the 43rd CARIFTA Games in Fort-de-France, Martinique over the Easter holiday weekend. He is the defending champion in the under-20 boys 100 meters (m) at CARIFTA.

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