17 Level 1 coaches charged to make new knowledge count

The 17 coaches who on Thursday received Level 1 certification through the IAAF Coaches Education and Certification System have been charged to make their new knowledge count.{{more}}

Course facilitator Rosmund Griffith and President of Team Athletics SVG Keith Joseph implored the coaches not just to sit on their certification.

Joseph’s comments came as he spoke on behalf of President of the St Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Committee Trevor Bailey.

Griffith and Joseph were both addressing the closing ceremony of the certification course at the President’s Suite at the Arnos Vale Playing Field.

“To whom much is given, much is required,” Griffith told the successful coaches.

“You have been given a lot of knowledge and you are expected to use this knowledge and help the young athletes that we have in our midst. I challenge all of you to use the knowledge … you have gained to develop new talent,” Griffith told the coaches.

“You are all capable of producing first class athletes … do not just take the knowledge and sit on it; do not allow the principle of reversibility to take root … if you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it,” she further stated.

Meanwhile, Joseph said: “Coaching is a vocation. It requires the same amount of dedication and commitment that you do in teaching, that you know in nursing.”

As a point of reckoning, Joseph said that St Vincent and the Grenadines has the talent per capita to match any Caribbean country.

Joseph interjected with the achievements of 19-year-old Trinidadian Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 London Olympics Javelin, gold medalist, whose meteoric rise Joseph claimed was in no small measure attributed to the efforts of John Andalcio, coach of the Toco Senior Comprehensive School.

Joseph then laid out the demands of the local coaches.

“The athlete needs help; the athlete needs guidance; the athlete needs father figures; … they need brothers and sisters, supporters who can help them believe in themselves, that they are capable of achieving the maximum of their potential … your responsibility is to ensure that you facilitate that athlete get to the best of what he or she can be,” the TASVG president stated.

“The nation depends on you; the youths of this country depend on you for guidance, for leadership, for training for good examples … They may see you as role models; coaches must be particularly careful in that the example they give is always befitting the vocation they have taken on board,” Joseph concluded

The 17 successful coaches who attended the course were mainly drawn from the school system.

Apart from Griffith, Rawlson Morgan served as the other facilitator of the course. (RT)