The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER running a successful throwers camp last year, coach Corrington Maycock has decided to add a middle and long distance component to the second annual Blue Chips Athletics Camp.

It's scheduled for August 7-12 at Queen's College between the hours of 9am and 3pm for boys and girls ages 12-16 years and will be conducted by April and Bob Smith, an assistant coach (throws) from Fresno State University.

Coach Christine Engel, also an assistant coach (distance) at Fresno State University, will be in town to conduct the inaugural middle and long distance segment of the camp with the view of providing an athletic scholarship to a potential Bahamian athlete.

Cory Young, the Association head coach at the University of Miami and Shannon Popp, an assistant coach (throws) from Louisiana LaFayette University may also make an appearance at the camp.

"All of the coaching coming in has scholarships for athletes going forward," Maycock revealed. "Both camps are for developing purposes as we try to find some new talent in the Bahamas."

The camp starts on the August Monday holiday, but Maycock said they decided not to take the time off because there is a lot of ground for the instructors to cover in the week.

"Once your kid has the potential, we want you to send them out," Maycock said. "We're looking for the couch potatoes too. Hopefully we can turn them into athletes.

"We are just looking at talent across the board for boys and girls in our track and field system in both the government and private schools."

Last year, Maycock said the camp was very successful and, if they can attract at least 60 campers this year, he said they would surpass the first year's total.

"We learn techniques, we learn basics from beginners to advance throwers," Maycock said. "We have some experienced throwers who have gone on to represent the Bahamas very well at Carifta.

"We're looking for any and all throwers to come out because the camp has been beneficial to a lot of the throwers. Once I see these kids obtain scholarships, we feel we have accomplished our goals."

Maycock said with five competitors on this year's Carifta team that competed in Curacao, the Bahamas got four medals, which was a remarkable accomplishment.

"We're looking for a bigger improvement with the Bahamas hosting Carifta next year," he said. "I'm looking for a number of the throwers who participate in the camp to be able to win medals at Carifta."

The advanced throwers, according to Maycock, will also be preparing for the IAF World Junior Championships in Finland and the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

"All those games, we want to have some representation from the throwers in those meets," he stressed. "We want to be able to get our throwers to participate in all of the major international meets next year."

As for the middle and long distance component to the camp, Maycock said he had some coaches interested in coming for the thrower's camp, so he decided to include them to help increase the participation of the campers.

"We just hope that the camp is successful and it trickles into the season and hopefully next year will be even better, not just from the throwers, but the middle and long distance runners.

"Just like throwing, you have a lot of kids out there who can run long distances, but they may not have the avenue or the means to showcase their talent," he said.

"So this is the opportunity and we just want it to grow from here.

"If you have your kids at home and you feel that they can run distance races, have them come to the camp," Maycock stressed. "We want to hone their talent as we look at the development moving forward.

Interested persons can register at Queen's College between 8-9 am on Monday, August 7. Registration for the middle and long distance segment is $50 and $250 for the throwers for the weeklong camp.

"Not everybody will get a scholarship from the camp, but there are other schools who are interested in giving out scholarships who are not going to be here," Maycock said.

"But we do have the means outside of the camp to help your kids. You have to be developed first before we can talk about talent.

"We are still looking for the development of the throwers or runners first."

The focus of the camp is to get the campers from basic development to peaking to compete.

The challenge for the coaches, according to Maycock, is to try and cramp it all in one week.

"It's going to be tedious in a way, but beneficial in the long run," he said.

"So we're hoping this one opens the door for us to put on a stronger camp next year and to help the programme in the future."