Over the recent years, Trinidad and Tobago has produced a lot of top class juniors. Many seem to suffer injuries that hamstring (no pun intended) their careers and flounder after early promise - Getting to finals, maybe getting a medal, and all but disappearing altogether, or showing little improvement as they mature. There are exceptions of course, but the list of consistent performers, multiple finalists or medalists are few. I know that we are a small country with a limited pool of talent, but from my fan vantage point, my national pride is deeply hurt when I see our promising athletes unable to maintain good performances but for one or two seasons. The reasons may range from: They have suffered severe injuries; or because ill-advised coaching changes have inhibited their development; younger competitors have surpassed them making it more difficult for them to overcome. Is there an underlying problem? Here is a short list of names, and you can add to the list. I will leave it up to you, the fans, to comment, make suggestions, or draw conclusions:
Richard Thompson - silver in Beijing, then not much
Darrel Brown - World youth star and nothing since
Mark Burns - Youth potential never translating to anticipated senior success
Jehue Gordon - after securing gold in 2013, its been down hill
Marcel Cedenio - any hope with the emerging 400 talent? What happened to the kick?
Deon Lendore - except for his college exploits, the path now does not look good
Mark London - double CARIFTA junior champion. Not heard of since.
Meanwhile, I applaud our consistent performers, past and present: Ato Boldon (definitely our most consistent performer), Cleopatra Borel-Brown, Keshorn Walcott, Lalonde Gordon, Renny Quow
You can add to both lists.