Coach wants time with growing Kerrica Hill

COREY BENNETT, coach of impressive Jamaican junior hurdler Kerrica Hill, said his charge will not be rushed into joining the professional ranks despite her superb performances on the track this season.

According to sources, Hill has received several offers from overseas entities to become a professional.

The 17-year-old, who has been in excellent form this season, turned in a magnificent performance on her way to winning the women’s 100 metres hurdles at the World Under-20 Championships in a new championships record of 12.77 seconds in Cali, Colombia, last week.

Hill’s time was close to the world Under-20 record held by fellow Jamaican Britany Anderson at 12.71 seconds.

The vastly talented Hill is also the fourth-fastest Jamaican junior over the 100 metres this season with a time of 11.16. Only Tina Clayton with 10.95 seconds, Serena Cole with 11.13 and Brianna Lyston with 11.14 have run faster than Hill this season.

Bennett said Hill’s development and understanding of the sport are still unfinished and she needs to remain at school at this time.

“She is a high school student and she will continue to be a high school student until that time comes. When we force them to go professional and when they fail, we are the same ones that criticise them the most.

“She is a young girl in Class Two and I want people to respect that. I mean don’t look at the times that she is running because she is not ready yet to be a pro athlete,” Bennett said.

He added that Hill still has a long way to go in the sport before she can become a professional because she has a lot of work to do on improving her technique.

“She can be as good as she really wants to be, but she still has a lot of technical flaws and there is a lot of scope for improvement,” said Bennett.

“So, technically, she has a far way to go in terms of her improvement, in terms of how we want her to hurdle, but she is on the track to achieving that,” Bennett said.

robert.bailey@gleanerjm.com