Met-Track continues its expansion across the Capital

Met-Track continues its expansion across the Capital on Monday and Tuesday 21-22nd March, with a unique launch event in Regents Park.
The Royal Parks Police have joined up with lead agency the British Athletic Charitable Trust over recent months, to formulate a scheme that will see Westminster and Camden Boroughs working hand-in-glove with the Royal Parks Command.
Young people from schools in both boroughs will take part in a showcase event that will attract over 200 participants, who would probably never otherwise have had the opportunity to train under the tutelage of international athletes in sprints and long jump. Other activities will include the ever-popular street dance classes, along with instruction in cricket.
The objective across both days will be to encourage the young people taking part - along with any of their friends and family - to come back the following Monday (28th) for the first of what will be weekly training opportunities with top international athletes working in a coaching role. The sessions will be free, last for two hours, and begin at 4pm every Monday throughout the summer.
Met-Track have traditionally partnered Kickz to provide football at their launch events, but for the first time in their six-year history, they entertain cricket in Regents park, linking in with the successful Street Chance project which promotes the sport as another diversion opportunity for young Londoners.
Scheme Director, John Powell, said: "We are delighted to offer another launch event in one of London's most iconic locations, Regents Park. In adopting cricket for this event it further shows how diverse the Met-Track model can be - anything, in fact, that can offer young people in our Capital City the chance to make some positive decisions in life and steer themselves away from negative influence."
The launch event will take pace at the athletics track located next to Regents Park zoo, and will begin at 9.15am on both days. Track and Field megastar, Andy Turner will visit the event on Tuesday 22nd. The European and Commonwealth Games sprint hurdles gold medallist will chat to the young people taking part and look to use his story to inspire others to take up sport as a healthy life alternative.
If successful, and if further funding can be found to sustain the project, the weekly sessions will continue through Autumn and winter on Saturday mornings.

Barnet - Met track news

Ravenscroft School Head Teacher Mr Paul Ferrie (left) presents Met-Track tee-shirts to some of the regulars at the Barnet Borough based academy. Squad coach, international sprinter Rion Pierre joins them (right). The Barnet squad trains every Tuesday at 3pm and is open to anyone to attend whether they attend the school or not.

More details on this squad here.

SEB COE GIVES HACKNEY HIS STAMP OF APPROVAL

(left): Lord Coe meets Met-Track Scheme Director John Powell, and Scheme Manager, Jason Hussain

Lord Sebastian Coe, former double Olympic Champion, and the mastermind behind the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, gave one big stamp of approval to Met-Track in Hackney this morning (Tuesday 1st March)
The Chief Executive of London 2012 visited the Mossbourne Community Academy in East London, and witnessed first hand a Met-Track session under the leadership of resident coach JJ Jegede, who is also the UK's leading long jumper this year.

British International JJ chatted to Lord Coe and introduced some of the young people taking part. One said: "Met-Track has been amazing and it's really given me something positive to do with myself now. I used to get into all sorts of trouvle, but now I love my athletbcs and I want to join a club."

(left): Lord Coe gets a lesson ni sprint starts from members of the Hackney squad at Mossbourne

Seb was given a lesson in sprint starts by one pupil, and had the rest of the group enthusiastically chatting to him about their new-found interest in athletics through Met-Track. The pupils referred to Met-Track are se;ected by the staff at Mossbourne as those young people most likely to benefit.

Lord Coe also met with Met-Track Scheme Director, John Powell, who was also visiting with Scheme Manager Jason Hussain. Local Metropolitan Police Officers, Peter White and Andy Hills represented the local borough - PC White has been instrumental n driving the ocal Met-Track initiative, while PC Hills was the local Schools Officer at Mossbourne.


John Powell said: "It's great that Seb has at last been able to visit one of our sessions. He and I have met on seveMal occasions, and he has followed the progress of met-Track from an early stage, but this is the first time he has been able to see it in action first hand. He certainly seemed to be very impressed indeed." Further pictures of the session, together with Lord Coe's visit, will appear on this website shortly.


(Left): Lord Coe chats to Mossbourne pupils with Met-Track coah JJ Jegede looking on.

MET-TRACK COACHES STEAL THE LIMELIGHT

The recent UK Athletics Indoor Trials and Championships saw Met-Track coaches steal the limelight, as they showed their charges just what can be achieved with a little hard work.

The event, held in the English Institute of Sport's indoor arena, in Sheffield, saw James Ellington soar into the final of the 60 metres sprint with a lifetime best performance in the semi-final of 6.69 seconds. James has been coaching Met-Track sessions ever since the launch in 2005, and currently champions sessions in Sutton Borough, Newham and Lewisham. The hotly-contested final in Sheffield was won by Dwain Chambers, and saw James finish a slightly disappointing sixth. That said, the fact that only seven months earlier he had suffered a potentially career-ending injury, put that into perspective, and heralded one of the most dramatic comebacks in athletics!

In the Long Jump JJ Jegede, the UK's number one at the event so far in 2011, will be cursing his luck in the final, as his 7.52 metre jump was overhauled late in the competition to edge him into the silver medal position. JJ has been working on Met-Track for over 2 years now, and currently leads the Hackney scheme, although he has also worked in the past in Barking & Dagenham, Waltham Forest and Barnet.

The longer sprint is not usually a championship event due to the fact that the indoor bends in the 200 metres are too tight to make it unfair on those drawn on the inside. Scheme Manager Jason Hussain was therefore very happy when he saw that he had drawn lane six in his heat, and duly delivered his fastest time of the season by far with a blistering 21.64 second effort.

However, Jason was pipped by just three hundredths of a second to first place, and hence was awarded the fastest loser's berth in the next round, albeit in his first ever national final, but duly inherited the dreaded inside lane! The bends mean he has to slow significantly twice during the race, and so he remained in sixth place with a time of 22.29 seconds, albeit tantalisingly close to the next two competitors in lanes two and three!

Jason, a former Great Britain Junior International, has been working as Scheme Manager for Met-Track for over three years now, and is responsible for much of its development and the whole of the day to day running of the project across the whole of London.

Met-Track Scheme Director John Powell, who was in Sheffield in his role as coach to both Hussain and Ellington, said: "These guys are seriously talented athletes, but they are ding an invaluable job for Met-Track. They are excellent role models for the young people they work with, and of course the bonus is that the albeit small considerations Met-Track is able to pay them, do help with maintaining their own highly intensive training programmes. It's immensely satisfying to be able to deliver something that has a double benefit like this to people who might otherwise not be able to pursue their goals in life, let alone the benefits young Londoners glean from engaging with us in the first place."

Hammersmith and Fulham borough all set to join the fun, along with a Royal Parks initiative.

Plans are now well advanced to launch the 24th and 25th schemes in London, with Hammersmith and Fulham borough all set to join the fun, along with a Royal Parks initiative.

The month of March is fast becoming a very busy month for the project, with Hammersmith looking to launch on 27/28th, and the Parks project a week earlier. Details have yet to be finally confirmed, but Hammersmith will be looking to launch their Met-Track initiative at the famous Linford Christie Stadium, in West London, while the Parks will be setting up base in Regents Park.

The Royal Parks have long wanted to join the fray, combining with both Camden and Westminster boroughs in seeking youth engagement agency partnerships. Again there has been immense support from local services, and this will be a unique scheme available to young Londoners right in the centre of the Capital.

Hammersmith's launch has been coordinated by Police Community Support Officer Mel McClure, who has pout an immense amount of work into making things happen out west, not least in raising all the funds to support it.

Scheme Director, John Powell, said: "I am delighted we have another two schemes launching this year. We have launched in 23 boroughs to date, although a couple of those have stalled since, so this will enable us to continue to hover around the 20-22 mark of active schemes, which is terrific."

The project continues to thrive all over London despite the challenging weather conditions of late. "Obviously our schemes that are based in schools carry on regardless," said John, "but even those outdoor projects at tracks around London have continued into the New Year. As Spring approaches we can usually expect an upturn in attendance."

Met-Track is currently collating its 2010 returns, and the subsequent evaluation is likely to again reflect an 85% non-re offending rate among participants.

MET-TRACK XMAS UPDATE!

Met-Track coaches will be getting very little time off during the Christmas and New Year period, with the vast majority of squads continuing as normal at their regular venues. Schools academies will of course be suspended until the new term in January, but most other activities offer a potentially welcome break from Christmas pudding and the TV.

Met-Track Scheme Manager Jason Hussain said: "We wish everyone who is associated with Met-Track a really happy Christmas and New Year period, but we don't want them to lose focus on what they may already have achieved with their local squad.

"Most centres are open for our normal activities," he continued, "and we really don't want people to lose that valuable momentum they have built up during the Autumn. And of course anyone new who would like to try out with us is more than welcome to turn up at their local squad."

Met-Track Scheme Director, John Powell, endorsed Jason's words: "We do tend to see a bit of a falling away of attendances after a holiday period, so we want to encourage as many of the young Londoners engaged with the scheme to keep going through the Christmas period. We wil be carrying out the end of year evaluation of the scheme at the beginning of next month, and we want to maximise the benefits that have been delivered to Londoners during 2010 right up to the last day of the year."

Squads affected by Christmas or New Year closures are:

• Newham - 24th December and 31st December - no squad session
• Sutton - 27th December - no squad session
• Waltham Forest - 27th December and 3rd January - no squad session

All Met-Track squads and school academies recommence as normal in the second week of January.

Watch this website for news of launches of two new schemes in London early in 2011...

Met-Track continues to churn out young people into sport

Met-Track continues to churn out young people into sport and various other positive pathways in life, thanks to its now hugely diverse menu of options on offer to young Londoners who engage with the project. But 17-year-old Omardo Anson, from the Bexley and Westminster scheme, has gone one stage further than that!
Omardo, from Abbey Wood, in South East London, and who attended Bexleyheath School until this summer - he now attends Greenwich Community College - has been to Met-Track sessions at Bexley and Westminster under the guidance of coaches Dwayne Grant, James Ellington and Gus Ebhohinhem-Ben. But now he's training with Olympic sprinter Grant, and European gold medallist Ellington, with a potential sprints future!
Met-Track Scheme Director John Powell took Omardo on as the newest recruit to his elite Trackspeed1 training group, based at Crystal Palace, and the 17-year-old wasted no time in grabbing the opportunity with both hands. Already his performances have impressed his new coach, and he has picked off quite a few senior scalps in training.
"Omardo is running well," confirmed John, "but it is his dedication that most impresses for someone so raw in the sport. He really works hard and is really keen. He pleaded with us to be included in our Spring training camp in the United States, and I eventually gave in - his face was a picture! The thing is, I really do think he could be a dark horse next summer. He's incredibly raw, but once he learns some basic skills, he could do quite well."
Met-Track is all about engagement and getting young people back on the straight and narrow though - not necessarily recruit future athletics stars, but Omardo has achieved all of this in one. He first entered Met-Track three years ago. He was a problem at home, in with the wrong crowd, crossing paths with police, and heading in totally the wrong direction in life.
"When I got into Met-Track everything started changing," said Omardo. "I found I really enjoyed training, and it gave me loads of confidence I didn't have before. It taught me self discipline for the first time in my life, and really calmed me down. My mum was really pleased too, because my school work got better, my behaviour at home improved, and we got on with each other much better. It was incredible how getting involved in sport changed my life. I am so grateful to Gus and the other coaches for helping me - I have no idea where I'd be if it weren't for Met-Track."
As for his trip to America in Spring 2011, Omardo is still pinching himself: "I can barely believe what's happening," he said. "This is all through me getting involved in Met-Track. Now I'm training with international athletes, and will be training for four weeks in one of the best facilities in the States!"
Met-Track coach Gus Ebhohinhem-Ben said: "Omardo improved greatly with us, but most importantly his level of engagement got steadily better. You could see him changing from week to week."
"This is exactly what Met-Track is all about," continued John Powell, "there is a wealth of evidence now that shows how we are changing the lives of hundreds of young Londoners like Omardo."