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| Olympic 4x100 silver medalists, left to right, Keston Bledman, Emmanuel Callender, Marc Burns, Richard Thompson |
Nobody tripped and fell in front of T&T. Nobody dropped the baton. Nobody ran out of the exchanged zone. Nobody lost a shoe. For the 4 x 100 metres men’s relay team, it meant a good trip. The temperature was fluctuating between 60-62 degrees. It was brisk with a spinal chill. With 49,000 bodies functioning at 96.6 degrees body temperature, there was heat in the stands. T&T team with Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callendar, and Richard Thompson clocked 39.3 seconds for the circuit. This was good enough for fourth. After working in this order for the past eight years, Bledman who cannot run turns, was on the back of Burns. Burns was outrunning Callendar. Callendar was at fencing practice with a grabbing hand motion target supplied by Thompson. To the normal eye this is 20-20 vision. This team is not running on all available cylinders. It is an eight-year-old vehicle. It will take you from point A to point B in too long a time. Parts need to be changed for reliable performance.
The 4 x 100 relay used to showcase this country’s sprinters as well as the standard of excellence. The spirit of cooperation that defined T&T at Beijing Olympics has come to symbolize the decline, dysfunction, distrust and disappointment of the wrong dynamics at work. There is a culture of mistrust and chaos in the national organization’s relay programme. You have a man coming in at 25 mph and one leaving at 20 mph. No, No, No! Check time, distance, velocity. Mix this with individual ability and behaviour, plus rapid acceleration and leg speed turnover. Burns is a one race man, Bledman a straight away runner, Sorillo into the turn first. Thompson is good coming off the turn. The others cannot take or deliver the baton. Think back to Beijing, Korea, Penn Relays 2011-2012. The relays this year presented T&T with visually pronounced issues. To the casual observer it was business as usual. However this is the Olympic year and things must be observed differently. These issues must be brought to the attention of the administration.
1. Executive and unwarranted liming at the starting point of the pole vault runway. (1 pm–approx 4.30pm)
2. Why was the masseur encouraging the pole vault lime in open field?
3. Messaging an athlete in 62 degree weather in open field in the lime.
4. The baton exchanges between Calendar and Thompson need to be addressed.
5. The relay team has to be changed to a more productive effort
6. There is a need for more assertive chemistry
7. Why did Ayanna Alexander compete unattached?
Madeline Hunter’s lesson plan framework reflects general rules for developing skills used in solving problems. In this process, the teacher develops problems, carefully accesses skills needed to solve problems. Create conditions and /or parameters that act as guidelines for productive solutions. These same conditions and parameters also serve as evaluation criteria. Who will be on the 4x400 and the 4x100 metres teams? We have to start fixing the problem at the primary and secondary school levels. This cannot be fixed elsewhere!
Primary/Secondary school Level:
Primary/Secondary school Level:
T&T future Olympic Elite Athletes
Aim: Athletes will understand a multiplicity of T&F relay racing skills.
Related goal: Athletes will be able to identify the different skills in track and field relay racing preparation.
Many athletes fail to realize that any scripted dialogue must be accompanied by activities. Prior to the main activity, students will be watching video clips of major international games. The teacher must make sure the lesson includes an activity that gets the students ready for the body of the lesson. That is the intent of the “anticipatory set, to get the students to anticipate the lesson.”
Anticipatory Set:
a) The teacher will start the session by watching video on the proper way to prepare for major games in foreign arenas.
b) There will be an instructional video and clips from this past year’s Penn Relays and 2011 World Championship
Objectives:
a)Students will identify three important components of relay racing.
b) Students will respect each other's baton racing and handling abilities.
c) Students will practise baton exchanges at least 20 - 30 free exchanges during the session time.
Modeled Practice:
a) The teacher will explain the proper components and mechanics of baton exchanges.
b)The teacher will also demonstrate the proper components and mechanics of baton exchanges in T&F.
Guided Practice
a) The teacher will then have the athlete's practice baton exchanges freely at the six stations around the field.
b) The teacher will be walking round the field helping the athletes with their mechanics and make sure they are exchanging the baton with the correct form.
c) The teacher will correct the athletes if and when she /he find mistakes in the way they are exchanging the baton.
Independent Practice
a) The students will practice exchanges freely on their own at the stations around the field.
b) Students must remember to exchange the baton with the proper mechanics.
c) The teacher will be walking around the field reminding the students of the proper mechanics involved in baton racing.
Closure:
a) The teacher will gather the students together and review the important components and mechanics that are involved in baton exchanges.
b) The teacher will begin by asking the students to name the components and if they can't remember them or say something that isn't correct, the teacher will tell them the correct components and mechanics.
