As the summer track and fieldseason gets under way, Met-Track coaches are getting their legs to do the talking as they provide the perfect example to their charges of what can be achieved through sport with a little bit of hard work!
Coaching in Sutton, Lewisham, Kelsey Park and Charles Darwin Academies, and the newly-launched Coopers School Academy, Bromley, James Ellington produced a world class performance over 100 metres at the recent Loughborough University International match.
Representing England, he clockeda spectacular 10.12 seconds for the blue ribbon sprints event - a huge break-through with his previous fastest outing being 10.23s.
James has been coachingfor Met-Track since its inauguration in 2005, and has converted countless young Londoners to the idea that sport holds a positive future with opportunities to develop and achieve. Aged 25, he is now emerging as one of Britain's fastest men, but remains committed to helping young Londoners invest positively in their future:
"Met-Track has been a great scheme to coach on," said James. "I have no idea where I'd be if it weren't for athletics, and a lot of kids haven't a clue just how much fun they can have simply by taking part and getting fit. You don't have to be a Usain Bolt to walk onto a track, and every time I get a new kid come to one of my squads, I think of where I was years ago."
One of the most original aspects of Met-Track in London is that it is staffed by international athletes. Also being qualified coaches, they inject a unique energy as role models into the grass roots of the sport. As the traditional curtain-raiser for the UK domestic season, the Loughborough event saw other Met-Track coaches in Aidan Syers, Dwayne Grant, Gemma and Georgina Malster, and Scheme Manager Jason Hussain also in action. JJ Jegede, a huge loss to Met-Track when he migrated to Northumberland last month, again won the long jump as British number one in the event.
Scheme Director John Powell, who also coaches James, Dwayne and Jason, said: "We are immensely proud of what we deliver at Met-Track. Our coaches are role models to the young people they work with, and are delivering some outstanding results all over London. Many are full-time athletes and so their coaching role compliments perfectly their training regime, with obvious benefits to the young Londoners they work with. I only hope that, in the currently immensely challenging fiscal environment, we continue to receive the support we need to survive."
