After leading several young first-year student-athletes to national success in track and field, former Olympic sprint champion and current International Association of Athletic Federations' (IAAF) Council member Pauline Davis-Thompson is set to hold a second year of tryouts, to recruit new members to the newly formed Bahamas High-performance Track Academy (BHTA).
The BHTA is an athletic training program for selected high school athletes, providing these young student-athletes with the necessary support needed to be both athletically and academically successful. BHTA takes a holistic approach to the coaching, training, and guidance of its athletes, with the goal of providing them with the tools and skills necessary to maximize their potential for longevity in the high performance world of track and field and the highly competitive world of academia.
"Almost with surety I can say, when an athlete leaves our program, any coach in any major college or university would want to recruit him or her. It would be up to them to choose from the many offers that they will potentially receive if they come and successfully advance through the program," said double Olympic Champion Davis-Thompson, who in addition to having almost 32 years of success on the track, has also had a successful career as a coach.
Davis-Thompson is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 'Coach of the Year' at the University of Tennessee, where she coached Jeneba Tarmoh to a World Junior Championship in the 100 meters (m). She also coached American quarter-miler Monique Hennagan to a U.S. National title and a fourth place finish in the 400 meters (m) at the 2004 Olympics. In addition, she guided Bahamian 400m runner Christine Amertil to World Indoor silver and bronze medals, as well as a NACAC Championship record run of 50.34 seconds in the 400m - a time that still stands as a record today. Now, the former Olympic Champion is set to impart this wealth of coaching knowledge on a generation of young Bahamian track athletes for a second year.
Joining Davis-Thompson again this year will be her former Atlanta-based training partner and coach, Mark Humes.
Humes is an English lecturer at The College of The Bahamas. He is a former nationally ranked decathlete at Morehouse College and was named Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000, for having led the Marist High School Boys' track and field program to regional championships. Humes also brings a wealth of knowledge to the organization having served as an assistant sprint coach at Morehouse College and at the University of Puerto Rico. He has coached several World Champions and Olympic athletes, including Aaron Cleare, Derrick Atkins, and Adrian Griffith, as well as New Orleans Saints' receiver and Atlanta native Leigh Torrence.
In the first year, under the guidance of coach Davis-Thompson and coach Humes, young Angel Collie won the Most Outstanding Female Athlete Award by capturing the 400m title and placing second in both the 100m and 200m at the Primary Schools Championships. Some of the other athletes who had successful first years are Aaliyah Brown, winner of the private schools 100m in a record time of 13.08 seconds, Dewayna Pratt, who won the 200 and 400m at the GSSSA Championships, and Alexia Sawyer, who captured the 400m title at the High School National Championships. Winning the primary school 100m and 200m races was Kaneisha Carter, who also clinched the fastest female athlete title in her age group.
On September 29 and 30, at the Thomas A. Robinson Track and Field Stadium, the BHTA will host trials for high school students from ages 12-16. The trials are for persons who are currently not affiliated with one of the already established track clubs.
Trials will be conducted on Thursday, September 29 in the 100 and 400m, beginning at 6:00 p.m. On Friday, trials will be held for the 200m, 110m hurdles, and 800m.  The two male and female athletes (12-13 and 14-16) showing the most potential in a particular discipline will be considered for the academy. Prospective athletes are asked to show up for the trials at least one hour before the start, to go through warm-up routines.
In addition to their athletic abilities, student-athletes will also be considered based on their ability to succeed academically. This is a part of the BHTA's aim to have its athletes physically and academically ready to further their track and field careers, post high school, at one of the many NCAA Division I institutions in its network of colleges and universities.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian