That Penn Relays debate

The decision by the Thomas Saunders Secondary School and now the St Vincent Grammar School to go to the famed Penn Relays in the USA continues to be questioned in some quarters locally.

From its debut outing in 2011, the Thomas Saunders Secondary School has entered the Penn Relays since, with the St Vincent Grammar School entering the fray at the 2017 edition, the 123rd hosting of the relays, which took place last weekend.

There has always been much publicity and excitement about St Vincent and the Grenadines’ participation over the past seven years.

And, much has not changed over that period and this year’s performances are not that different from previous returns.

Looking at the results, it is nothing to shout about, as neither outfit, as expected, was good enough to get into the finals.

The Grammar School, though, placed an encouraging 85th of the 298 schools which contested the 4 x 100m, while the Thomas Saunders Secondary was ranked 183rd.

In the 4x 400m, the Grammar School ended 160th of the 535 schools that completed the distance, while the Thomas Saunders Secondary was positioned at 164th.

Clearly, not just this year’s results, but from all other factors, our schools are out of the league in terms of reaching the final eight.

The glorification of the Penn Relays and the parallel often drawn with the successes of the Jamaican schools must be put into perspective.

Whereas, our track and field programme here is seasonal, theirs is almost all year round, structured and an embedded culture to achieve.

Also, our athletes are often disadvantaged in that they invariably compete against students who are older than they are.

In short, Vincentian athletes’ participation at the Penn Relays is merely for exposure and experience, with the hope that they will build on the opportunity gained.

Additionally, the preparation for the outing would have served them in good stead for their future careers in the sport.

However, the records would show that many of the previous participants have not remained in the sport.

But the Penn Relays are highly competitive and an outlet for exposure of athletes to college and university coaches.

Unfortunately, these scout/coaches essentially view the finals to get the cream as prospective recruits for their institutions.

And, St Vincent and the Grenadines’ teams not getting past the preliminaries stacks the objectives against them.

One must always be reminded that it is the schools’ choice to attend the Penn Relays, once they can raise the necessary funding to travel to the event.

Obviously, there would be schools here with athletes whose quartets will perform better than the schools who choose to go to the Penn Relays.

But the Thomas Saunders Secondary and the St Vincent Grammar School must be lauded for their creative ways in realizing their financial target goals and the tenacity engaged in the processes.

Similarly, in the case of the Thomas Saunders Secondary, that institution has, over the last six years, been able to build up support from donors and other well-wishers here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as in the USA and elsewhere.

This type of partnership speaks volume for the trust and image of that institution.

Whilst it is an individual decision by the schools to be part of the Penn Relays, how long will Vincentians continue to support such a venture without seeing many tangible rewards? One positive development is that a few students from the Thomas Saunders Secondary School have gained acceptance to a New York Community College.

In order for SVG to impact on the Penn Relays, there must be a cultural change in the way track and field is administered and executed.