Community at the centre for Ferncourt High

Ferncourt High’s track and field coach Gregg Scott said where his team might lack in the number of athletes and their resources, they have more than made up for that with the support of the school’s community.

Scott explained that Ferncourt will carry a very small squad to the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships. The school will have just over 10 athletes at the championships but he is confident in his athletes’ ability to get within the medals.

According to Scott, this is because of the support from the Ferncourt community.

“Once an athlete is getting that support, you find that they are more confident because when they come up against Kingston College, Calabar High or Wolmer’s Boys, and they see the pretty gears, they will also have on the best that is out there.

“So they will feel confident going on the track and that’s one of the things we do for our athletes. I make sure they have the things that all the top athletes have so they can feel confident when they’re competing,” Scott said.

With Ferncourt being one of the small schools at Champs, Scott is aware that it will be a challenge to keep hold of his athletes who perform well, as he said they will be targeted by prominent track and field high schools.

Just this year, Ferncourt have lost two of their top athletes who have decided to represent Calabar High and Holmwood Technical.

Scott said there are a few athletes that he expects to compete for the medals, with one such athlete being Rihanna Scott. He hopes the support from the community will be enough to keep Rihanna at Ferncourt.

“When you have students who do well at these small schools, the big schools come and take them away, but the beauty about Ferncourt is that the community that we have with the parents, the principal, the chairman and supporting staff.

“We hope to keep Rihanna here. We don’t know what the future brings but right now, I’m just hoping for the best and that it remains this way.”

Scott believes once an athlete is able to perform well while representing a smaller school, there would be no reason to transfer to a prominent high school.

He explained that athletes are able to get more attention from coaches at schools like Ferncourt, whose small track programme allows coaches to spend more time with individual athletes to work on their personal development.

“Well, my personal view is this, if you can stay at a small school and get medals, then you don’t need to go to a big school. A big school has numbers and you’ll just become part of a number. But when you’re at a small school, you are the main person and you’ll have that support.

“Some of these athletes will lose out on that, and I will encourage all the coaches like me who are from a small school to care and nurture these talents. Some will go and some will stay, we only can hope for the best. I’m sure when they stay, they will do well and the school will support them because I’m telling you, Ferncourt supports its athletes,” the Ferncourt head coach said.