Coach says Calabar Lions will roar again
IT HAS been six years since Calabar High School last laid claim to the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships title, a fact that head coach Corey Bennett knows very well.
Bennett says Calabar fans will have to be patient as the team continues to rebuild.
Calabar last claimed the boys’ title in 2018 when they won with a 90.5-point gap over their closest rivals Kingston College (KC). When compared to last year when Calabar finished third, 159 points behind champions KC, Bennett said it is clear his team has a lot of work ahead to close the gap.
However, he is confident that Calabar will return to the top of the standings with time.
“Right now, we can’t necessarily out-recruit our rivals, especially internationally, but I think we have a product that we can offer to Jamaica that will get persons better and more advanced,” he said.
“I respect all my competitors and I think they’re doing an awesome job but at Calabar we’re lions, and I think that whenever it’s time to roar, we’ll roar. But I think we’ll just have to be patient and our time will come, sooner or later.”
Bennett is no stranger to the pressures of coaching at a school with high expectations.
When he took the role in 2022, he understood it would be a difficult task to bring the Red Hills Road-based school back to its glory days. He says he has the support of Calabar’s stakeholders to rebuild the school’s track and field programme.
“When I first took the job, I knew it would be a difficult job. The pressure is mostly external. But I think most persons understand what we’re trying to achieve between last year and this year. I think we’re in a better space than we were last year as a team.
“Yeah, there is all the pressure that you’ll expect from a traditional school like Calabar but I think for the most part, the majority of the stakeholders understand what we’re trying to achieve as a school and as a team.”
Bennett says this year, Calabar are not in the shape to be title contenders at Champs but he is confident his team will have a strong showing at the five-day high-school showpiece. He explained his coaching philosophy is to focus on preparing each athlete to perform their best at their events, and as a result, will form a much stronger team that can remain competitive for years.
“The dynamics are much different but I think that at Calabar, if you can get the individuals to do better, then you’ll get a much better team. I pay attention to the small particles as opposed to the whole and hopefully, we can put the pieces together in a timely fashion. We have some strong areas, not much that I’d want to really single out, but we have a few areas that I’m expecting the boys to show a good account of themselves.”