Dear Editor,
And so another boys’ and girls’ athletics championship, ended last Saturday, with emphatic repeat victories for Edwin Allen and Calabar high schools. Over a five-day period, culminated on the 19th, Jamaica and the world saw the best of our student athletes on display. Over 10 records were broken and there were other world-leading performances. If what we saw of these youngsters is anything to go by, then the world must now come to the realisation that our dominance in sprinting will remain unbroken for at least the next three Olympic cycles.
While there are too many standout races and individual athletes to mention, the four gold medals achieved by both Junelle Bromfield of St Elizabeth Technical High School and Christopher Taylor of Calabar were the highlights of the 2016 championships.
Commendations are in order to all stakeholders; the athletes, the sponsors, the track officials, the security personnel, medical team, and the respective supporters who filled to capacity the National Stadium to ensure the 2016 championship was another tremendous success.
On a more sober reflection of the championships, however, one of national concern is the dismal way in which most of our victorious student athletes handled themselves in the post-race interviews that were being carried live on national television. It must not be lost on us that they are firstly students seeking an education, and acquiring a basic command and proper use of the Standard English language is paramount to their development and transition into productive adults.
To be honest, though, I was quite disturbed at the fact that many of these students could not properly string together 15 words in English, or even to deliver these words without voluntary episodes of speech defects and constant stuttering, in responding to the interviewer’s questions.
Unfortunately, this is not just a concern at the junior level, as I have seen many senior Olympians handled pre and post-race interviews poorly with the international media. Thankfully, the handlers of some stars have done speech coaching and public speaking training.
A similar approach should be taken by teachers at these high schools to ensure that their student athletes are properly coached, prepped and trained in how to deliver and conduct themselves in these television interviews, as this will prepare them for the international stage and life in general as they transition in their respective paths.
Richard Patterson
richie2sweet@yahoo.com
And so another boys’ and girls’ athletics championship, ended last Saturday, with emphatic repeat victories for Edwin Allen and Calabar high schools. Over a five-day period, culminated on the 19th, Jamaica and the world saw the best of our student athletes on display. Over 10 records were broken and there were other world-leading performances. If what we saw of these youngsters is anything to go by, then the world must now come to the realisation that our dominance in sprinting will remain unbroken for at least the next three Olympic cycles.
While there are too many standout races and individual athletes to mention, the four gold medals achieved by both Junelle Bromfield of St Elizabeth Technical High School and Christopher Taylor of Calabar were the highlights of the 2016 championships.
Commendations are in order to all stakeholders; the athletes, the sponsors, the track officials, the security personnel, medical team, and the respective supporters who filled to capacity the National Stadium to ensure the 2016 championship was another tremendous success.
On a more sober reflection of the championships, however, one of national concern is the dismal way in which most of our victorious student athletes handled themselves in the post-race interviews that were being carried live on national television. It must not be lost on us that they are firstly students seeking an education, and acquiring a basic command and proper use of the Standard English language is paramount to their development and transition into productive adults.
To be honest, though, I was quite disturbed at the fact that many of these students could not properly string together 15 words in English, or even to deliver these words without voluntary episodes of speech defects and constant stuttering, in responding to the interviewer’s questions.
Unfortunately, this is not just a concern at the junior level, as I have seen many senior Olympians handled pre and post-race interviews poorly with the international media. Thankfully, the handlers of some stars have done speech coaching and public speaking training.
A similar approach should be taken by teachers at these high schools to ensure that their student athletes are properly coached, prepped and trained in how to deliver and conduct themselves in these television interviews, as this will prepare them for the international stage and life in general as they transition in their respective paths.
Richard Patterson
richie2sweet@yahoo.com