The noise was deafening and the temperature rising, but Trinidadian Joseph Brewster sat and watched silently and intently at the beehive of activity at the recent ISSA Grace Kennedy Boys and Girls Championships.

Brewster, president of the Secondary School Track and Field in Trinidad and Tobago, was a member of a study group from that country which attended the championships with a view to learning as much as possible, with the intention of elevating the standard of the sport in Trinidad and Tobago.

“The organization, the preparation of the athletes, the knowledge of the athletes; it has been exceptional for me,” Brewster to AthleticsJa.org. “This meet is flawless; everybody knows what they have to do. The officials are all well prepared and they execute their jobs very well.”

Brewster said that both programmes are incomparable since Jamaica’s would be much older.

“We are new, we are young. Yes, we have been producing athletes. However, at the secondary school level, we want to have a mould on how to do it. It can’t be hit-and-miss. It must be a purposeful, precise and scientific way of producing athletes”

When asked how the athletes are prepared he said,

“We have a very robust club system. Many athletes start at the club system even from primary school and from there to secondary school. Many get discovered there but there are just a few schools with a programme.”

“In Trinidad and Tobago, we have good coaches. We have level one up top level five coaches but they work in the clubs. What we are trying to do is to find a way to get them into schools. It would make a massive difference since they would work with a bigger pool of students and those students are potential athletes.”

Finally, Brewster does not think it is impossible to raise their standard.

“It is not impossible to do what we want to do. It has to be purposeful and scientific. We have to be all onboard. It will take many parts coming together to make this happen.”