Hold on girls’ crown
last year; we had basically thrown everything we had into the preparation for Champs 2020 and to be told two weeks before that it was off, it took us months to get over that, but at the end of the day we have a history and reputation to preserve, so we will do well.”
While he said winning was “always on the forefront of our minds”, he said they had to make the shift in mindset this year that there was more to Champs than just winning. “I have been advocating from the get go when we restarted competition that it has to be opportunity over outcome. The outcome this year is not as important as previous years; right now the opportunity takes precedence over the outcome.”
Goburn added: “I am extremely elated that we are having Champs this year. Last year I would have been happy even if there was a modified version; we still have some persons who were unable to get scholarships from last year, not a lot, but the cancellation of Champs definitely affected some persons. Fortunately for us, most of our girls were already signed but we had some who were not top-tiered who college coaches wanted to see to solidify scholarships and that did not happen, so I am elated that this year they will get the opportunity.”
Bennett shot down the idea that they would be contenders after their close call two years ago. “No, I don’t think we are genuine contenders for the title this year,” he said. “I believe a good points target for us would be somewhere in the region of 200 to 220 points. I believe we are able to finish third this year with that points total.”
Hydel’s preparation he said “was very inconsistent for obvious reasons. The start/stop season made it very difficult to plan the training programmes and its progression. I believe we were able to prepare some areas a bit better than some due to the fact that we really received some much-appreciated cooperation from some parents while some parents, understandably, decided not to send out their children,” he said. “Overall, I am satisfied with approximately 70 per cent of the team’s preparation while the other 30 per cent is woefully behind in their preparation.”
Bennett says while he believes the strength of his team will come “mostly in our sprints and hurdles. We do also have some strength in the horizontal jumps”, adding that expectations are that they will be competitive. “We definitely will be aiming to get out there to perform at our best while still having some fun.”
He was happy that the event was being held. “I am really overjoyed and thankful that our junior athletes will be given the opportunity to participate at Champs this year, but at the same time I am mindful of the risks involved in keeping it. I pray that every athlete, coach, manager, journalist, event official, and everyone involved in the staging of Champs 2021 will do their best to observe the required protocols and will all experience an incident-free Champs.”
Anderson said he expected Holmwood to be in the top five and not necessarily in the top three, “so our target is to get over 200 points and finish in the top five”.
With all they had to go through he said they had started training “very late, about mid-january and a bit more organised in February. We also are operating at a 60 per cent of a normal team capacity”.
He was unable to say where the team’s strength was. “We will get some good performances across the board. Our fans and supporters can expect some all-round quality performances from the team this year to compensate for the cancelled meet last year.”