The Semoy thing obviously. Burns and Brown were supposed to have run 9.6 by now and 19.77 is supposed to have been long gone. You would think in a country where 99% of our junior stars fade (Fana et al) we wouldn't be as quick to always say potential will surpass established/proven. Guess not.
As long as you can help Michelle 
I keep hearing about this statistic and poor odds of outstanding junior athletes not being able to take it to the next level and wondered whether it is to be expected as a matter of probability or whether there are circumstances that cause the attrition.
I have seen many promising T&T athletes fade at different stages (i) before their late teens, (ii) during college, (iii) after college if no sponsor or returning home without the proper support and environment, (iv) after a debilitating but not irrecoverable injury, etc. I do not know if the attrition is worse in T&T than in Jamaica but it is sad.
It seems to me that some of the contributing causes could be (i) bad coaches in T&T who may run their talents into the ground, (ii) bad choices of events to suit the particular athlete's skills, (iii) lack of guidance provided to an athlete who might be better suited at home in T&T than abroad, (iv) bad choices of schools to attend (covered in another thread) with unsophisticated coaches or coaches who cannot coach the particular event the athlete excels in, (v) bad life choices (pregnancies, drugs, steroids, crime while at college), (vi) lack of expert medical resources that pro athletes enjoy via sponsor funds (Munich), (vii) lack of urgency in T&T in support of returning (post-college) athletes (inaccessible stadia facilities, no hi-quality training partners etc), (viii) lack of access to quality track meets in the Caribbean and North/South America, and (ix) lack of technical expertise from fundamentals through correction to fine-tuning.
It seems to me that for those of us who love/live/breathe track and want to arrest that sad trend of attrition so as to increase the probability of more frequent HCs, IMs, ABs, there is a social and financial opportunity in it. Actually it is a great opportunity for an NAAAs or a private entity to take up the mantle of T&F excellence in T&T, from a modern-day perspective.
What about a T&T track & field academy akin to a football center of excellence or an IAAF high-performance center? A facility that is not club-specific, where IAAF-trained T&T coaches can by appointment or by advertisement help athletes with the basics (form/technique), correction (start/drive phase/hurdling/PV/LJ/HJ specifics, etc), injury detection/prevention/recovery via local sports doctors or connections to the experts abroad. A facility where college-aged and bound athletes can come in, sit down with some "veterans" and talk about college athletic life, social integration and preparedness for life away from home, do research on schools, coaches, and talk about life prospects after college track, etc.
I hear about the Barcelona soccer brand and system - these seasoned guys go world-wide during the off-season and coach kids as young as 6/7 in the basics, as well as in some sophistications (position role, triangle play, etc etc) and make money from these 2-week camps.
What if we had more than just a series of infrequent track clinics in T&T, but a place where any athlete at any level can go freely to get help with their event, that they cannot necessarily get in their club.
Actually with the right strategy and marketing it could make for a viable enterprise. Shoot Alvin Corneal made a nice living as the only type of that capability in T&T football back in the 70s. I could foresee such an entity pairing corporations with select promising athletes to cover the costs of coaching services, medical needs, equipment, etc in exchange for advertising rights should that athlete go on to better things.
Targeted athletes could receive free/sponsored services in the interest of T&T track and field, and others pay an affordable fee per session until they show promise or receive a sponsor. Should the system prove effective then any visiting international athlete would pay for the same services. It's kind of where I think Jamaica is now, where athletes from other countries come to receive off-season training, to train with the best, to try new, innovative yet low-tech/effective methods and pay for the privilege.
It should have an impact on the catchment rate of T&F talent in T&T, and improve the probability and quantity of excellence via proper local coaching methods, proper medical/mental/life-choices/nutritional/college decision advice, creation of a home for returning athletes to train with others at the levels they had in college, a recovery environment for proven but injured athletes to rebound and increase their longevity, and an environment where from midget to maven athletes at all levels can interact, support, advise throughout the ranks.
Let me know if I am "preaching to the choir", if it's been tried before, etc. I may sound like a pipe dream, but with astute planning, financing, convincing, persuasion, influencing skills within the private sector and (hold your breath) the government, it may fly, even in a country where everybody seems more concerned with self than others.
