Leon Powell, head coach of the boys’ team at Edwin Allen High School, says the institution will field a young and relatively inexperienced squad at this year’s ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships and therefore predicting their overall performance will be difficult.
The five-day championships are scheduled for March 24-28 at the National Stadium.
Powell said preparations for the team have been unusual this season, which has made it challenging to gauge how his athletes will perform when the competition begins.
“I am not sure what type of performance you are going to get from us because our preparations have been different this time around,” said Powell. “The level of confidence that I will have going into championships is not so much there, but in the last couple of weeks the team has been looking good, especially in the middle and long-distance events.”
Despite his uncertainty, Powell noted the team could still produce respectable performances across several disciplines.
“We are expecting to do well in those areas. We should also do reasonably well in the sprints and we have one or two athletes in the throws,” he said.
“I don’t know what to expect, but hopefully we can do well in these areas.”
The team finished eighth overall last year with 58 points, but Powell shared that this year’s squad will be much smaller. He stated that he will be taking between 18 and 20 athletes to this year’s championships.
“We are young in terms of experience but in terms of age we have a few final-year guys who are expected to do well in their last championships,” he said. “But the team is pretty young in terms of experience.”
Powell also said Hurricane Melissa was one of the disruptions the team had to manage this season.
“Hurricane Melissa set us back and if you realise before the Central Championships we had only been to a couple of meets,” Powell said.
“Even at the G.C. Foster Classics it was the first time for us running the 200 metres, and so this sort of preparation is unusual for us because normally we would be competing almost every week to get that experience and exposure.”
Despite the challenges, Powell highlighted that the mood within the camp remained positive as the athletes look forward to competing on Jamaica’s biggest high school athletics stage.
“The vibes in the camp are good and they are looking forward to going out there and doing their best for the school, for themselves and their families,” he said.
“It is a small group and they are upbeat and want Champs to come so that they can go out there and showcase what they have inside right now,” Powell said.
“We got 58 points last year but I am not sure how many points we will be scoring this year.”
