Athletes must maintain good physical shape for when competition resumes, says Wilson
Athletes have a responsibility to ensure they stay in good physical shape and lay a foundation for when they resume training for next season, even if the remainder of the 2020 season is lost, says top Jamaican coach, Maurice Wilson.
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has decimated the 2020 international track and field calendar forcing the postponement and or cancellation of a number of championships, and Wilson has insisted that athletes must maintain at least a basic training routine if they are to avoid falling too far behind on their fitness levels when competition resumes.
Wilson told the Jamaica Observer in an interview last week that athletes should not be left on their own to continue their workouts, as they will need coaches to help them, especially with motivation for the more difficult workouts.
The G C Foster Sports College principal and national track and field technical director said, “I don’t believe it is possible for athletes to prepare during this period by themselves. I think they need support, psychologically. I think they need to be motivated because generally you have to motivate them to do a certain level of workout.”
He continued: “Persons must understand that during this period it is about maintenance, because there are no competitions, so you really want to keep them at a certain level, that even at about, I would say, about 15 per cent of what they would normally be at this point if there was going to be any competitions, and so my personal opinion is that there should still be some organised form of training, not necessarily every day of the week but maybe three or four days a week, and you target different areas.”
Wilson, who coaches athletes such as Demish Gaye, Rasheed Dwyer, Yanique Thompson, Rhonda Whyte, and Anastacia Leroy, among others, told the Observer, “I have been having discussions about athletes preparing themselves individually, and it is an extremely difficult job, as these athletes pay coaches and managers to guide their careers, and if it is that they were able to coach themselves then they would not need to employ the services of these people.”
He pointed out that the top athletes get to where they are because of their discipline and hard work, and for those behind them to try and catch them, they must adapt the same mindset, especially in a time such as this when there is nothing to work towards.
“Let’s say for example, the fastest man in the world is training now or doing some form of maintenance, and someone who is not in the top 20 in the world is doing nothing, how is that person going to bridge that gap between the fastest person in the world and themselves?” he argued.
“There has to be some form of training taking place in order for them to improve on their weak areas, maintain a certain level of fitness and athletic form; so I personally believe that it is important that some form of guidance is given during this period once the protocols that govern the pandemic are observed,” he ended.
— Paul Reid