"The University of the West Indies - where sprint dreams really can come true"

Mona Dreams - Racing to Sprint Success    

The dreams of young Jamaican athletes to become the next Usain Bolt or Yohan Blake, have spread past the island shores, across the region and even further beyond – prompting new interests, igniting passions and changing lives. One such life irrevocably altered with a racer’s dream, is that of Trinidadian born athlete, Jerome de Lorne. This Caribbean national has however, moved beyond just dreaming. He has actually begun that long and arduous trek to sprinter stardom. Leaving behind his home and family, he has moved to Jamaica to embrace a new home with the UWI Mona Track Team, in the hands of a new family – the seasoned care of the very coach that gave the world Bolt and Blake. “Mona seems better equipped to deal with athletes”, says de Lorne, “It offers more opportunity and staff support. Training facilities are more accessible and I think Mona is better prepared to deal with injuries.”

At the age of eight, Jerome discovered his talent and passion for athletics when he was asked to represent his school during a sports meet. Feeding that passion through his high school years, he continued participating in a variety of sports meets, hoping that one day the perfect opportunity would come along to show his talent to the world. It did! Spotted by scouts at the Penn Relays earlier this year, de Lorne eventually received an official invitation to join the Mona contingent. Now under the tutelage of one of Jamaica’s most renowned track coaches, Glen Mills, de Lorne, far away from his early dreams in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, has begun a reality that is still the stuff of dreams for many others. This is a reality where he has access to the fastest men in the world, the chance not only to learn through watching them make their magic on the track, but to also shoot the breeze, or as they say at the UWI, ‘lyme’ with them. There is also the privilege of being taught by the same coach as they are, and also of learning to run on the same track. 

But that’s the sweet side. This is also a reality that has him living the life of a typical UWI student-athlete, with its accompanying challenges. He is strongly optimistic however, that good things will eventually come his way. “Training is tough, it’s really tough. I am not used to this type of intense training back at home, having to run distances so long, but I have begun to see improvements. I feel stronger already. Coming from a background with limited resources, I am determined to make the best of this opportunity”.

It’s this kind of passion and commitment that drives the successes of the Mona Sprint team. The urge for greatness and the yearning for victory by these young athletes are what keep the brave and loyal Pelican spirit alive. Each training day, the battalion of UWI sprinters congregates at the Mona Bowl for a round of endurance training and a rigorous fitness workout to start off the day. With a team that is dedicated and a well trained head coach, the UWI has a proven formula for success.

“Hard work, dedication and sacrifice,” says Coach Glen Mills, “that’s my sprint team’s formula for success. We also have a very good support team including a group of coaches who are some of the best on the island and perhaps in the world and that makes our administrative team, one of high standards.” It is these high standards that have been adopted by the athletes both on and off the track. In order for student-athletes to represent the Campus, their school work must also be of a certain level.

“The UWI encourages each student-athlete to perform well academically and athletically”, says Director of Sports of the University of the West Indies, Dalton Myers. Each student-athlete is expected to maintain a GPA of 2.0 or above each semester. We recognize that this sometimes is a challenge and as such provide tutoring for most of the student-athletes as supplementary support. So far we have seen that the assistance we provide is making a difference and it is refreshing to see that most students meet the academic standard we set”.

The University is not the only entity with high expectations. Coach Mills, while he has been doing an exceptional job with the team, aligning his passion and talent with the vision of the University to produce high quality student-athletes, also has high expectations of the Institution itself. He feels that additional support and development is integral to continued success.

“One of my concerns”, says Coach Mills, is the issue of nutrition. I don’t believe that the nutritional programme that the UWI currently has running is compatible with world-class standards. However, I know that the institution is making an effort to improve the situation. Even so, his passion and yearning for greatness seems to have surpassed his concerns and has added to UWI’s confidence that its efforts are really beginning to pay off.

By investing more in injury rehabilitation, improved training facilities, research, drug testing and nutritional programmes, Mills is confident that better things are in store for athletes of the UWI sprint team.

These are the exact sentiments of UWI Mona’s Principal Gordon Shirley. He is excited about the strides that the Mona Campus has made and continues to make toward a renewed sporting culture at the institution. “We have the Faculty of Medical Sciences, which has a sports medicine programme, so we do rehabilitation; the Forensic Science Department and the Department of Chemistry, which is responsible for conducting drug testing in the island and regionally, and we also have a nutritional programme which is managed by the Food and Nutrition Institute here at Mona as well as a really big nutrition programme now in the Tropical Medical Research Unit. In the Physics Department we have developed the capacity for bio-mechanical analysis. So the idea is to draw on all the resources that are readily available on the campus to support our sports development thrust”.

The Mona Campus has vowed maximum support to ensuring that the Pelican spirit lives, and dreams such as that of Jerome de Lorne can be made a reality. The region as a whole benefits from each of these individuals who actually achieve high-level sporting success, and the University of the West Indies is well under way with its strategy of maximizing these instances as it moves towards the development of sport as a viable Caribbean Industry. Millions of dollars have already been invested across the various campuses with focus on research, development and facilities. This macro view of course has mind-boggling potential, if the participants believe that the successes are possible – and they are, just ask Jason Young.

Scholarship recipient Jerome De Lorne

Once just another little boy with a big dream, Jason Young hails from the parish of Trelawny, home to many successful athletes such as Veronica Campbell Brown, Usain Bolt, Marvin Anderson, Michael Frater and Mario Forsythe. The University of the West Indies has been a key factor in helping to actualize that dream, and Young, who is now in his second year of studies pursing a Degree in Accounting, is also the holder of the 200M Silver Medal from the recent World University Games in Shenzhen, China. Young is happy with the relationship, and believes he has the best coach in the world and all the support he needs. “With a scholarship, good training facilities, mental guidance and academic tutorial support, I am comfortable here. I know that the University will always be there for me. This journey has been a good one for me. I am now way more confident in myself and know that great things are ahead for me.” Great things lie ahead not just for Young, but for all the other persons who are able to join the University’s drive to sporting success. The Mona Campus has already begun the
re-development of the Bowl as a Centre for Sporting Excellence with plans for the construction of a Jamaica Football Academy and the development of a stadium to complement the existing track as well as the continued development of the existing sand court to accommodate beach football and beach volleyball.

One of the developments of which the Campus is understandably proud is that it is now home to what is one of the best running tracks in the region. A Regupol Athletic Track donated to Usain Bolt by the German manufacturers is domiciled at the Mona Bowl training facility. What better symbol of a successful synergy. This track has brought together the visions of two separate yet similar groups of young people full of energy, rich dreams, stunning talent and strong in Caribbean roots.

Now on the same track, under the same roof and guided by the hands of the same man, there is no doubt that a world of even richer successes is about to be unveiled and more sprinting dreams about to come true.