Commonwealth performance brings 'fulfilling moment' for Wilson

Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

When Jamaica's young and largely untested track-and-field team departed the island to compete at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, not a lot was expected from the 48-strong contingent that featured a bunch of mainly unknowns.

The early declarations of unavailability from the likes of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell-Brown and the rest of the upper echelon of Jamaica's track-and-field talent, dampened the enthusiasm and fanfare around the team.

As far as medals were concerned, very few individuals expected the Maurice Wilson-coached team to bring home more than three medals, at best. In fact, almost nobody expected their actual haul of seven medals (two gold, four silver and one bronze), nobody except, of course, Wilson and his team of coaches and managers.

The celebrated Holmwood Technical High school coach had silently predicted nine medals for his young team, and considering that no less than four Jamaicans missed medals by the absolute slimmest of margins, and the many injuries to key members, the actual medal count could have been even greater.

No easy feat

For Wilson, who hailed this as one of his most fulfilling experiences, getting this team to brush aside the criticism and poor support that followed them to Delhi was by no means an easy feat.

He was quick to pay credit to the work of his fellow coaches, Michael Clarke and Maurice Wesley, as well as the management team that was led by Judy Ewart.

"This is most definitely one of my most fulfilling moments as a coach. It was a lot of work and it's a great experience. One of the things that I feel extremely proud about is when I realised the team that we had, at no time did I say that I didn't want to be associated with this team," said Wilson, who admitted to being so tired that he has been falling asleep at random times and locations since the end of the Games.

"I think that the coaching staff and the management staff did an excellent job in getting everyone ready and using the one week that we had to motivate persons, based on some of the negativity that was swirling around. It was being said in some quarters that we wouldn't leave here with more than one medal and we used that to motivate ourselves," he added.

Extremely satisfied

Wilson was extremely satisfied with the efforts of the team members, and was also quick to underline the important experience which was also gained by the younger athletes.

"The team did extremely well, the persons who we expected to do well performed even better than we thought they would. As you know, we had quite a few youngsters in the team and it was a great experience for them," Wilson pointed out.

"In 2004 at the Olympic Games, Usain (Bolt) went to Athens and persons were expecting a great performance from him, but what really happened was that he was able to garner that experience and use it as a launching pad for years to come," Wilson said.

"I have heard quite a few of the youngsters here expressing a determination to be named to other Jamaican teams, and expressing a commitment to work even harder, and I really believe that this was a great investment on the part of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, to give the exposure to these young athletes."

He added: "Overall I'm feeling extremely happy and satisfied in the work that was done. I would have loved if we got some more, but based on the situation and conditions it wasn't possible, but nonetheless I'm extremely proud off how the team performed, especially the new persons on the team."

The coach was also mindful of the sacrifices made by some of the senior players on the team, and took time out to pay special recognition.

"We also must pay special recognition to the senior ones who also took time out to come out and represent Jamaica," he said. "This isn't something that we should overlook because what they did was sacrifice a part of their background preparation for next season in order to represent their country and that is something that we should be grateful for."