http://www.trackalerts.com/news/lead-stories/6002-interview-with-glen-mills-the-wind-beneath-bolts-wingsInterview with Glen Mills - 'the wind beneath Bolt's wings'Tuesday, 01 November 2011 20:53 By Anthony Foster, anthonyfos@gmail.com
Kingston, Jamaica - Glen Mills is Jamaican track and field. Because of his youth, he may not fit the label 'the father of Jamaican track and field' but he's a father to every young day dreaming kid, to every Jamaican world medalist and to every other coach in Jamaica who needs a technical pointer.
Quick to help and slow to turn a deaf ear, it seemed inevitable when coach Mills finally beagan to reap the fruits of his labor with sprint phenom Usain Bolt....
and just when it seemed Bolt had maxed out the short sprints, Mills followed up with another world beater in Yohan Blake, who seems ready to trade back and forth wins with Bolt.
With the London Olympics looming in the near future, Trackalerts.com decided to jump the gun and grab an early interview with one of the world's greatest sprint coaches, Glen Mills....
Here Glen Mills proudly discusses his Club, his athletes and peeks into year 2012.
TA: Year 2011 for Racers was one of their most successful years, just take us back.
GM: “It depends on how you define success. However, we've had more athletes earning medals this year than in any other period in our history.
At the recent World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, we won two individual gold medals, and a number of relay medals.
In the women’s 4x400m, we had three persons getting medals, in the men’s 4x400m we had two and we also had two in the male sprint relay, which is the same two persons who got the individual gold medals.
It’s the first time we've had that spread and it’s a good sign and we would love to continue and to expand...
TA: Was it what the club expected this year?
GM: I would say yes, but as to the exact colour of the medals, no.
We felt going into the World Championships that we would win both the 100m and 200m men, however, the split is a bit surprising because we were not even close to predicting how it turned out ...
We expected to have gotten a number of persons on the relay squad and it was good to see that we achieved that.
We were looking forward to a medal from Gonzales in the 400m. He did his best, but he had setbacks with his preparations and so on.
He missed out on the medals by coming fourth in the finals, but that's nothing to scoff at, that's an outstanding achievement...
TA: We know he had knee surgery last year. How much did that setback affect him?
GM: “A surgery of any kind is a major thing and you end up losing significant time in terms of rehabilitation. It is a period when you can’t train properly and you lose the benefits of earlier preparation...
You can try to bridge the gap within the time that is available when you are okay, but you still have missed a significant period and the background period for a quarter miler is a significant part of their development.
TA: Having said that, can I safely say you were not too disappointed that he did not win a medal?
GM: “No, not at all....there was always hope that he would still be able to medal, but as I said, we were pleased with the effort that he made, and the disappointment really stems from him getting so close and being denied.
He however came back and ran a fantastic relay leg.....really an indication of what he can do, maybe given a chance with a full healthy season, we'll be able to see his true mettle...
TA: Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake are not the best of starters. You spoke of working with Usain over the years, for him to get out of the blocks early, Blake as we saw in his last 200m, I think got the slowest reaction time. Going forward with these two sprinters, how much more work do you think has to put in to get them to start the way you would want them to?
GM: “Starting is a feature of execution and it is fair to say they have started well in races, I have seen them start well and what they really need to do is develop more consistency in their starting. Starting like any other part of the programme is something we address thoroughly.
TA: I heard you spoke of Yohan in previous interviews, that if he is to get that start right, he'll do great things. If he were to get more consistent starts, what's the expectations, how fast do you think he can go.
GM: “I am not in the business of predicting times, that is not my thing. I identify areas of weaknesses, work on them and see the results.
TA: Looking forward now to a bigger year, the Olympic year, and with Usain saying over and over again this will be his year to crown himself a legend, what kind of year do you expect from not only him and Yohan, but from the group as well?
GM: “Olympic year is always a special year because the Olympics comes once every four years and we would certainly like to have like anybody else, an injury free year if possible. Its also up to the athletes to apply themselves as is required, in order to develop themselves and to get of their best.
From the Club's point of view, we will be going all out, doing what we have to do in their preparation, paying attention to the details and making sure they get the best opportunity to compete and so on."
TA: What do you expect from the younger athletes this coming season?
GM: “We expect that they will continue to improve and gradually inch their way into contention in the near future on the world stage, both representing Jamaica and being able to earn from their training at the Diamond league events and other various meets in Europe and around the world."
TA: Over and over you spoke about building a female programme here, we are now seeing more and more females coming into the Club ... Deandre Whitehone is here, Calvert had a fantastic year, despite the fact she did not make it in the top three at trials, Nickeisha Wilson is here, there is also Rosemarie Whyte and Davita Prendergast....looking at your female programme and what you have now, what can we expect from that group?
GM: “We have shown that we can prepare female athletes to perform at the highest level. As I said, we are building a programme and this is just the second or third year we have started to expand in that area, it’s developing.
I think though, that over the next two to three years, we will be a major force in female sprinting and quartermiling and as it looks, hurdling too.
TA: In recent times, everyone is trying to join Racers and I am not only talking about locally based athletes, because recently you've had Nickeisha Wilson and Bobby Gaye Wilkins, who were both training overseas, wanting to join Racers...
I also know in an earlier press release, you said its the caring, family environment that attracts everyone, but are there any other factors that you can point out, that draw these athletes here?
GM: “Yes, obviously if you are an athlete, you are going to be constantly looking for the best alternatives to enhance your development. You'll assess your current situation to determine if it's working for you....
Today's athletes are not just going to stick around to just be around, they want results and they want to known that their development is also a priority within any team or any organization, and if the athletes feel what is happening to them is not what they believe is in their best interest, obviously they are going to be looking around.
We believe Racers provides the best alternative. We have, I think, a tremendous programme and we are most interested in what we can do and achieve. We are not really involved in trying to look at anybody else's programme, imitate what they are doing, etc...we are just trying to ensure that we present the best alternative.
That's what we're doing and we're getting good results. If we continue to get good results and go about treating the athletes well, grooming them and giving them the attention they need, then we won’t have to advertise ourself, the results are the best advertisement and people will approach us....
As long as we have space, we are open to take any Jamaican athlete who is in good standing with the JAAA and IAAF...and if we think that Racers can contribute to their development and they think so, we are always willing to look into their membership.
TA: Speaking about good standing with the JAAA and IAAF, Bobby-Gaye Wilkins, was it difficult to accept her as a part of your club, the fact that she is still serving a two-year ban?
GM: “No, she has unfortunately had a bad experience, and from my understanding, it seems like the people around her failed her, and she has been duly punished....
We were approached by her and our governing body to help this young athlete reposition her career and put it back on the right track. The environment at Racers seems to be the best that will cater to her.
We don’t support anyone getting involved in any kind of illegal activities etc., but we are not opposed to helping people rehabilitate themselves and get a second chance at life.
TA: Outside of Jamaica, are there any other interests? I know Daniel Bailey from Antigua is here, and a couple of Brits.
GM: “No, but we do get a lot of requests from all over the world...it's difficult though, for foreigners to come and settle here easily, because most times it's just one person and a lot of them find it difficult to blend into the Jamaican psyche. Then some of them have all kinds of fears based on the publicity the country gets sometimes, but we do get a lot of requests.
These requests are vetted and investigated and a lot of the people we determine wouldn't fit into our programme..."
TA: Where are these requests from, USA and England?
GM: “All over the world, from American, Europe, Africa, India, Bangladesh, Japan, you name it.
TA: Concerning your coaching staff, has there been any additions to cope with the increased number of athletes?
GM: Yes, Jermaine Shand has joined our coaching panel. Jermaine is a very good coach, he is somebody that I endorsed as one of the better coaches in the high school system. We are very happy to have him and he certainly boosts our sprinting reservoir...
TA: You specialize in coaching the shorter sprints; What about the quartermiler and other disciplines, how is that handled?
GM: Coach Cameron deals with a significant portion of the quarter milers, but I coach quite a number of them too ... What we're trying to build is an institution that even when I am gone, will be able to provide the kind of high quality preparation for athletes.
TA: How are your efforts being rewarded?
GM: There's been a paradigm shift and its not going to happen for only American anymore. We have thrown down the gauntlet that we are a serious force in the track & field world and that America and us will be competing for the same medals; it's obvious the lines have been drawn ...
TA: Will you continue to expand or is this it?
GM: It is clear that we will have to expand and develop more in Jamaica if we are to be serious about the track & field thing ... because we are going to have to do it ourselves to get really high quality results.
The past four years have demonstrated that whether from Racers, MVP or another club, that the local athletes are going to be more and more performing at the world level, because the college athletes are not going to be able to get it done while in college...you have to be exceptional, because the system don't really cater for that; even for the American athlete...
TA: Are college athletes faring better than an athlete who is trying to do it outside of an organized, professional racing institution like Racers or MVP?
GM: Not really, college athletes don't do that great either because of their workload...but you will find the exception, but it's usually after college before they really click.
Right now there's a handful of athletes who train overseas that are commanding space on our team, Veronica is in a class by herself, probably the greatest female sprinter of all time based on her achievements.
TA: Other than VCB, are there others and how difficult is it to be a competitive athlete these days?
GM: There are a couple others, but regardless, Jamaica is going to have to get it done eventually and we are very slow in the vision because everybody - the government, the JAAA and the private sector - need to pump more into track & field at the senior level.
TA: What will you say are some of the solutions?
GM: More quality Clubs. I've long advocated that something needs to be done to make it easy to form clubs the quality of Racers, so that more athletes can get the kind of attention and development locally...
Even we are having a struggle, a struggle to get real development finances, because the athletes who go out and compete need their money and you cannot look to them to provide more than the reasonable percentage that they pay for your services.
TA: Expand on that a little more, how difficult is it for athletes out there?
GM: It is even a difficulty to get gear. We have a sponsor in Adidas and its difficult to get the equipment for the developing athletes, not even for the ones with contracts with the various companies being Puma, Nike etc...It's difficult to get the equipment coming into Jamaica.
Right now we are starting our season and we don't have our 2011-2012 equipment as yet because we are waiting on waivers so that they can be shipped.
The longer it takes is the more risks the athletes will take of getting injured during training, because there are some special technology shoe for people with pronated feet, shin problems and all those various things.
The different quality and delay in getting them puts us at a disadvantage...because they can't buy it, most of them are not available in the country anyway, and if you were able to buy it, a shoe of that nature is 8,000 to 9,000...so that kind of attention is lacking and I know everybody is happy when the performances comes, but we need more help at the ground level...
TA: Thank you for your time Coach Mills and may you have an exceptional 2012.
GM: Thank you.
