Thowers gaining momentum
THE YEAR 2018 was perhaps the most successful year ever for Jamaica’s throwers. Danielle Thomas Dodd won World Indoor silver and Commonwealth gold, setting national records (indoor and outdoor) along the way.
Fedrick Dacres, meanwhile, won virtually everything he could have won in 2018 – gold at the Commonwealth Games in a new meet record; gold at the NACAC Senior Championships in Toronto, Canada; gold at the Continental Cup, as well as the 2018 Diamond League title. In addition, Kai Chang won the World U20 title, something only Dacres had managed before him, in 2012.
In a country addicted to speed, Jamaica’s throwers had finally stepped out of the shadow of the sprinters and into the limelight.
According to Michael Vassell, one of the coaches at the forefront of Jamaica’s throwing development, the current situation had its genesis back in the late 1990s with the emergence of Munro’s Claston Bernard and Rory Marsh. Incidentally, Marsh’s father threw the discus and shot put for Calabar High School, which also produced former national champion Jason Morgan.
Subsequent rivalries between Calabar’s Maurice Smith and Kingston College’s Orville Byfield served only to raise awareness of the throws at Champs and lift the profile of high-school throwers. The new dynamic would eventually give rise to the likes of Randale Watson, Traves Smikle, Chad Wright and Fedrick Dacres, Basil Bingham and Chang.
Elsewhere, Sean Silvera from Bridgeport High and Dwayne Henzelwood of St George’s College also helped to carry the mantle forward during a period when Jamaica was winning multiple medals at the CARIFTA Games by the early 2000s.
Among the girls, Kamisha Marshall, who would travel each Friday from Mannings School in Savanna-la-Mar to Kingston to train, was among the girls at the forefront of the current charge. Sasha Gaye Marston and Danielle Thomas-Dodd, especially the latter, are still carrying the torch, as are Shadae Lawrence, Kellion Knibb and now, Shanice Love.
Love currently leads the NCAA female discus throwers with a mark of 61.54m.
Coach Julian Robinson believes are several inter-related factors have helped propel Jamaica’s throwing prowess.
“The Internet has made available more resources, such as IAAF standards, academic papers, successful training methods and so on, to local coaches. Facebook and Instagram have exposed both coaches and athletes to the techniques and training exercises of top throwers around,” said Robinson, who has coached the throws at Calabar for the past decade.
In that time, he has led Smikle, Wright and Dacres to CARIFTA and CAC titles, and Dacres to the World U18, U20, as well as all four senior titles last season. He believes that there are several inter-related factors have helped propel Jamaica’s throwing prowess.
He also argues that the increasingly competitive ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships is also driving the progress of throwers.
“Points are hard to come by so coaches have to work harder and smarter at winning,” admitted Robinson.
He also believes that the image of throwers has changed.
“The image is more positive than in the past. So more youngsters are inclined to train for the events, thus widening the net for talent identification,” he said.
He used Love’s recent success in NCAA competition as a prime example.
“Recently, Shanice Love, formerly of Excelsior, now at FSU, threw a NCAA-leading distance in the discus event. This performance has been heavily publicised on FB and Instagram.” Most Champs athletes today are on social media and are going to be exposed to these articles and videos put out by FSU on Love. One FSU article was entitled ‘Lovefest’.”
‘Lovefest’, indeed, is a word that now describes Jamaica’s growing affection for the throws.