International coaches give tips to athletes at Indian Open Relay

The spectators’ stand at the Sector 7 Sports Complex was filled not only with young cheering athletes, but some famous ‘international’ personalities also made their presence felt during the 2nd Open Indian Relay Competitions here on Wednesday.

Jerry Lee Holness, who has mentored Olympic and World Championship gold medallists like Elaine Thompson and Nesta Carter, was seen closely observing the National Centre of Excellence (NCoE) team. Jerry was roped in by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as the new coach of the Indian women’s 400m and 400m hurdle teams in January. He has joined the NCoE at Lakshmibai National College of Physical Education, Thiruvananthapuram.

It was not only Jerry whose presence was obvious as he interacted with athletes. The coach of the Odisha Reliance Foundation High Performance Centre for Athletics, Martin Owens—the former English athlete—was also seen training young athletes from the state. While Holness humbly avoided questions regarding Indian athletics and pointed towards his subordinate to talk with, Owens came up to share his experience of coaching in India since 2022.

“Athletics has changed a lot in recent times, not only in India but across the world. This is no more a sport meant to just ‘run’. Indian athletics has seen many changes in the past two decades, and it’s good to see the competition here,” said Owens.

Asked about the ideal weather conditions for conducting events, the former English runner said, “All we need is competitions. The more our athletes participate in competitions, the better will be the outcome. You just can’t prepare for an event for five months and then expect to win a medal. Regular meets will help athletes develop that temperament. In Europe, such events would start later, but given the conditions here...it’s good to have a competition.” He added, “I recently visited a Punjab city. I am forgetting the name of the place, but the athletes were fabulous. They have good facilities...but things are needed to be streamlined across the nation to nurture the talent.”

By evening, his joy of watching the athletes in action doubled as the Reliance men’s 4x100m team set a new national record. The Odisha-Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre athletes had won five medals in the last SAFF Junior Athletics Championships. “For me, an individual should play sport (if not athletics) at least till the age of 15 or 16. When I joined, I was told that the state is hockey driven and it will be difficult to get good athletes. Athletics is beyond just running and people are slowly understanding this fact,” he added.