1. PAGES 1-35 - Texas Track & Field Coaches Association

HIGH SCHOOL REPORT
IAAF COACHES COMMISSION REPORT
WAYNE CLARK
VICTOR LOPEZ
CHAIRMAN, IAAF COACHES COMMISSION
Recently the Ohio Association of Track & Cross Country Coaches
recognized the 75th anniversary of Jesse Owens establishing four
world records during one track meet. I thought you might like to
read a little history about this great track and field performer.
Loving to run, Jesse began his track career in junior high school
becoming an exceptional talent in the sprints. During his high school
days at Cleveland East Tech Owens established the national high school
record in the long jump and equaled the world record in the 100-yard
dash at 9.4 seconds. Because of an after-school job, Jesse practiced
mostly on his own before school each day. Yet, Jesse persevered.
Unbelievable by today’s standards, Jesse attended Ohio State University
without a scholarship. Also, in that time period, because he was African
American, he was banned from living and eating with his white university
teammates, was given individual travel arrangements, and had to work a
part-time job to help pay for his tuition. But Jesse persevered.
It was just over 75 years ago, in 1935, that Jesse set four world records
within a 45 minute time period in the Big Ten Championships. He tied
his own WR in the 100 yard dash and smashed the WR in the 220, the
broad jump, and the 220 low hurdles. Some sports enthusiasts claim
this meet to be the most valiant sports accomplishment of all-time.
This achievement in just 45 minutes! Jesse persevered.
Not only was Jesse a tremendous athletic ambassador for track and
field, but in the highly racially motivated 1936 Berlin Olympic Games,
Jesse won four gold medals, making him an ambassador for all
mankind. After these accomplishments Jesse became somewhat more
accepted, but he was not recognized by any U.S. President until Dwight
Eisenhower honored Owens as an “Ambassador of Sports” in 1955.
Throughout, Jesse persevered.
After his 1936 Olympic successes, Owens was obligated to continue
racing in Europe without expenses or funding. He became homesick
and returned to the United States without “permission”. His amateur
status was immediately revoked by USOC President Avery Brundage,
and Jesse was left with few resources for his family. Jesse’s life was sustained
by periodic involvements with failed businesses, exploitation of
racing against horses, as well as employment as a gas station attendant.
Fortunately, Jesse’s family remained lovingly true to him. But, during
his deepest lifetime low, Jesse had to file for bankruptcy. Remarkably,
Jesse persevered.
In later life Jesse traveled the world speaking for large corporations
and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which had rejected him in prior
years, relating his story and encouraging others of less fortunate circumstances
to persevere.
Perhaps Jesse’s story will encourage all of us to scrutinize our treatment
of others, while encouraging those we coach to remain persistent
in striving to achieve Jesse’s athletic accomplishments.
Wayne Clark is the Clinic Chair of the Ohio Association of Track and
Cross Country Coaches. He can be reached at clark002@columbus.rr.com.
The 2003 IAAF Congress held in Paris, France approved
a resolution to make athletics the number one sport in
schools all over the world. We as coaches understood
that this was a very important step in the development of
track and field. Theold system which was used in most countries
all over the world, the club system, was dying. Therefore,
the IAAF Long Term Athlete Development Plan emphasis
since 2003 has been to introduce athletics from the primary
school up to high school in all the countries around the
world. I pleased to say that the program is making progress
with the introduction of the IAAF Kids Athletics program in
elementary schools and with an emphasis in Youth competition
beyond the primary school. In the NACAC area, especially
in the Central American and Caribbean region, the program
is pretty much in place and making big strides with athletes
all over the region producing fantastic results.
I must say that, in the U.S., this system has been the bread
and butter in the development of track and field. Seeing that
the system has worked in U.S. and other countries like
Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and elsewhere, the
IAAF understood that this was the way to go. But where the
U.S. really is a mile apart from the rest of the world is in the
development of track and field beyond the secondary schools.
The U.S., with its NCAA program, has perhaps one of the best
if not the best high performance development systems in the
world. No other country in the world has a system of three
divisions like in the NCAA, a system in the NAIA and a system
in the junior colleges, where athletes receive a scholarship to
study and to participate in athletics at that particular university
or college. Puerto Rico has a similar program, maybe the
equivalent of the NCAA Division II, where there is a university
league composed of 21 institutions where the competition
in a number of sports is as intense as in the U.S. and the athletes
receive scholarships like in the U.S. I believe universities
in Jamaica are starting to do the same.
Where else can you get a four- or five-year education, practice
the sport under the best coaches, have use of the best
facilities and compete in a top-notch program? The only
place that we know which has a program of that magnitude is
in the U.S. Therefore, the IAAF aspiration is that all the countries
around the world follow that example because it has
proven that it is the best.
I would like to congratulate all the members of the
USTFCCCA for the fantastic job that they do year in year out
in developing athletes—not only from the U.S., but from
other countries as well.
Victor Lopez can be reached at victorlp8@aol.com.
AUGUST 2011 techniques 7