Jarrett still learning the STETHS culture

New St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) track and field technical leader Dwayne Jarrett says he is still learning the culture of the Santa Cruz institution. However, he says his coaching staff is making the transition easier.

“Still learning the STETHS culture. I don’t think I will probably get a full understanding of it until about next year, but I see where adaptation is taking place, both on my part and on the part of the kids. The good thing about it is that I have a group of excellent coaches working with. So they are making the transition a lot easier,” said the coach who spent several years at Manchester High before his move to STETHS.

Asked why he made the move from Manchester, he replied, “To be honest with you, I don’t think I was getting the support I wanted at Manchester as it relates to coaching. My workload was too heavy and it just seemed as if it wasn’t getting any easier.”

Known for his fine work in sprints and hurdles, the 52-year-old Jarrett added, “So I’m not getting any younger, and I can’t keep doing the same things I was doing in my twenties and my thirties. So I’ve really found a really good group of persons who are supportive, very, very knowledgeable and working together as a team. That was basically one of the important things.”

At STETHS, as technical leader, Jarrett is directing the entire programme but is only coaching the school’s sprinters. Last year at Manchester, his top sprinter Javoon Blair won the Central Championships Class One 100 metres title and reached the final at Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) and a year earlier, Shemar Palmer collected 400m medals at Champs and the Carifta Games in Kingston.

Earlier in his stint at Manchester High, he unearthed gold medal sprint hurdlers Dazsay Freeman, a 2017 World Under-18 bronze medal winner, and Sidney Marshall. During his Vere Technical days, he led the school to the Girls’ Championships title in 2000. That team included the likes of speed merchants Veronica Campbell-Brown and Simone Facey.

Earlier in 2000, he was named Coach of the Year.

“I started coaching actually from Bog Walk Secondary,” he recalled during a short break from coaching at the JC Invitational last Saturday, “but actively got into coaching at Vere Technical in 1994, so that’s a lot of years.”

He recently received an award from the Jamaica Track and Field Coaches Association for his continued service to the sport.