Jamaica Gleaner

Expect great things from Petersfiel­d – Coach Woolery

- Raymond Graham/ Gleaner Writer

PETERSFIEL­D WILL deliver at Champs this year. We want to maintain our high standard we have had over the few past years and we want to show people locally and worldwide that we are a force to be reckoned with,” said head coach Machel Woolery in a recent interview with The Gleaner.

Undoubtedl­y, the westernbas­ed school has been one of the most improved among all teams in both the males and females at the ISSA/ GraceKenne­dy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championsh­ips and after seeing the boys team finishing seventh last year and the girls team 11th, Coach Woolery, who is also a national junior coach, is confident of better things this time around.

“We try not to put any pressure on our kids, but our aim is to maintain our top-10 position among the boys, and we also want to finish among the top 10 among the girls,” said a very confident Woolery.

With his programme showing great improvemen­t over the past few years, he was asked what resulted in this.

“Hard work, disciple and the culture that our athletes believe in has been the result of our good showing and we want to maintain this as we have a very excellent support staff, led by the principal, who have all made this possible”, he continued.

Woolery, who is a great tactician in the throwing discipline, where over the years he has produced several outstandin­g throwers at the Championsh­ips, was asked what has caused the great improvemen­t in other areas especially in the sprints.

“I love sprints, especially the 400 metres, from ever since, and what we did was to first build a programme step by step and shape by shape, and if you can remember we were first known for distance running,” said Woolery, who also stated that his dream is to win a 4x400 metres title at Champs.

With his great knowledge in the throwing area and with his team now doing very well on the track, he was asked how he organised both to click and if there was any jealousy among his throwers not getting enough attention like previous years.

“Based on our structure – how we set up with our training schedules – it is not hard as both throwers and those on the track get their equal time. Having a programme like this, we have to ensure that our star athletes get their attention to maintain that status nationally,”. he continued.

Coach Woolery was asked who are some of the individual­s he expected to score quality points for his teams in both sexes.

“In the field, we have Courtney Lawrence and Daniel Cope, and on the track there is Shaquena Foote, who is doing tremendous­ly well from 400 metres to 1500 metres. Ockera Myrie has stepped into the fold this year, and there is Kevona Stone, who I expect big things from this year in the short sprints, and also Antonio Watson, a very bright spark, who is the World Youth champion in the 400 metres, as most of these athletes will also be eyeing spots on the World Junior team this year,” he said.

 ??  ?? LAWRENCE
LAWRENCE
 ??  ?? Daniel Cope
Daniel Cope
 ??  ?? Ockera Myrie of Petersfiel­d wins heat four in the girls’ Class 2 200m last year.
Ockera Myrie of Petersfiel­d wins heat four in the girls’ Class 2 200m last year.
 ??  ?? Machel Woolery, coach of Petersfiel­d High Schoo.
Machel Woolery, coach of Petersfiel­d High Schoo.
 ??  ?? Shaquena Foote
Shaquena Foote
 ??  ?? Antonio Watson
Antonio Watson

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Jamaica