Chambers strides into coaching - Jamaica athlete earns USATF Level One certification

NACAC Senior Championship 400-metre bronze medallist, Ricardo Chambers, the newly-certified United States of America Track and Field (USATF) Level One coach, says he is happy volunteering at Leon High School in Tallahassee, Florida, but coaching professionally at the Olympics and World Championships remains his ultimate goal.
“I feel good as a budding coach. I think with the Level One and with my experience as an Olympian I could get into a big University with Level One, but I want to go as far as possible with having the most knowledge as possible,” he said.
“It’s a big achievement for me (USATF Level One) because I am trying to get into coaching after I finish competing. I am preparing myself for the future,” continued Chambers.
The 400m athlete said he is happy to volunteer and hone his skills with the Leon High School 400m programme, where they “love and respect me as a Jamaican athlete.
“I am not gonna say I have all the knowledge in the required areas. I feel like I am learning and learning fast and spending a lot of time doing research,” he said.
“My ultimate goal is to coach professionally, so I start at the high school level and I’m doing volunteer work with some kids and after that I hope to volunteer at some University. But coaching professionally is my ultimate goal,” Chambers outlined in an interview yesterday.

Scholarship Recipient

Thirty-one-year-old Chambers hails from Trelawny and  moved to the United States on a track scholarship at Florida State University (FSU), where he represented the Seminoles, winning a silver medal over 400m at the 2006 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships.
He also broke the FSU record with 44.71 seconds and is looking to start his coaching exploits as an athlete/coach, while volunteering at Leon High, which is located in the same state.
Earlier this year, Chambers, was part of Jamaica’s 4x400 men’s team which missed out on a bronze medal, after clocking 2:58.51 minutes for a disappointing fourth at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.
The Jamaican is eyeing a successful 2016, however, with the World Indoors and 2016 Rio Olympics, for which he maintains “training is going ahead of the programme”.