Let's keep our youngsters in track and field

U-18 World Champion Breyton Poole in action. Photo: Roger Sedres/BackpagePix,

U-18 World Champion Breyton Poole in action. Photo: Roger Sedres/BackpagePix,

Published Jul 22, 2017

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South Africa recently returned from the IAAF World Under-18 Championships with a table-topping 11 medals, the country’s best haul at a global championships at any level.

The hype around their exploits in Kenya has been unprecedented and is good for growing the sports supporters’ base.

The successes of South Africa’s senior athletes such as Wayde van Niekerk, Caster Semenya, Luvo Manyonga, and Akani Simbine have no doubt added to this.

The obvious question is whether the team’s success at the youth championships represents South Africa’s rise on the global stage.

It is a difficult one to answer and given the fact that seven of the world’s track and field powerhouses were absent from the championships, the performance may not be a true reflection of our real potential.

Two years ago South Africa won five medals for a fifth place which is more or less the country’s position on the global stage.

WATCH: 17-year-old Breyton Poole is just 5'7" but cleared a high jump mark over seven feet https://t.co/NqNFwqPUPE pic.twitter.com/UsiyJDghbx

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) July 17, 2017

This should take nothing away from the current team’s incredible performance and the fact remains they have managed to make it onto the podium.

Held biennially since the inaugural event in Bydgoszcz, Poland in 1999, Kenya hosted the last edition of the Under-18 Championships. But the IAAF has now decided to scrap the event, and instead promote regional competitions.

The drop-out rate from youth athletics to senior level is generally a problem but it seems to be pronounced within the South African context.

South Africa has produced world-class youth athletes over the years with Jacques Freitag the shining example of one that managed to win at all three levels.

The former high-jump phenom was one of only 10 athletes that have won the ‘triple’ of winning gold medals at the World Youth, World Junior and World Championships.

He shares the exclusive club with Usain Bolt, shot putters Valerie Adams and David Storl, pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and heptathlete Tatyana Chernova.

Only a few young talents remain in the sport with South African 400m hurdles record-holder LJ van Zyl still going strong since he was crowned world junior champion back in 2002.

He is one of the few that have stuck it out in a sport that is not half as rewarding from a financial point of view compared to the other three major sports - rugby, cricket and football.

More often than not, the truly talented track and field athletes are equally good at other sports. There comes a time when they have to make a decision whether they choose the path of athletics which requires more than they are likely to get out of it from a career point of view.

The rewards are many but one has to be willing to sacrifice a lot more at an early stage than in other sports where there are junior contracts to sweeten the deal.

You also have the situation where track and field is not given as much attention at schools level as other codes, never mind the fact that it is the foundation to most sports.

The winter sports programmes at schools are now encroaching on that of track and field, leaving youngsters less of an option of what they would like to pursue.

Nurturing South Africa’s future track and field stars is not reserved for the youngsters who were selected to present the country in Kenya but starts with the schools.

It is about instilling a love for the sport and ensuring we do not create a conveyor belt of fringe players to other codes, when they could have been global stars like Van Niekerk and Semenya.

@ockertde

Saturday Star

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