Jamaica’s track and field coaches are the best in the world. That’s the assertion of none other than Garth Gayle, president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). Speaking last week at the Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association Long Service Awards, Gayle said the results garnered by Jamaica in 2022 constitute a testimony to the quality of the coaching in Jamaica.

“It is without question”, he began at an awards event held at the Medallion Hall Hotel in Kingston, “that Jamaica has the best track and field coaches in the world and therefore as President, it’s a proud moment for me.”

President Gayle pointed to the islandwide spread of coaches.

“One of the interesting observations about our track and field is that any child who has ability to run, jump, throw, once that child comes forward, he or she will have the coach to take them to the mountain top and that is very important”, he pinpointed.

“So coaches, those of you who have been working, and I see many faces, so many of you I have known over these 40 odd years at the junior level, at the primary level, preparing athletes to go on at the secondary level, tertiary coaches and to pass them onto Sir (Glen) Mills and other elite coaches. The JAAA salutes you. We are proud of you”, he said with pride.

Describing Jamaica as the “envy of the world”, he listed Jamaica’s 2022 international results as evidence of the fine work by coaches.

“Just to give you a little statistics, CARIFTA Games, number 1, World Athletics Championships, Eugene, Oregon, 2nd by points, 3rd on the medal table, World Under 20, Cali, Columbia, 2nd in the world”, he enumerated. “That is the testimony to the coaching strength of the team that went”, he said in praise of the World Under 20 coaching group led by Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association president David Riley.

Gayle then concluded his review of the past season, saying, “NACAC Seniors, Freeport, Bahamas, 2nd again to the United States in the medal table.”

He congratulated all the awardees and underlined the role the Coaches Association plays in the business of track and field in Jamaica.

“I must also make you aware”, Gayle remarked, “that the Coaches Association is an integral part of the planning, documentation as well as the preparation of all our teams and especially the restart of our sport from the pandemic. I want to really stress that one.”

The recipients included lifetime achievement awardees sprint guru Glen Mills, hurdles expert Fitz Coleman, long-serving Wolmers’ Girls head coach Michael Carr and meet management specialist Wayne Long.