McKay eyes coaching

COMBINED martial arts team captain Jason McKay said he is ready to step aside if former vice-captain, Arthur Barrows, gets back into tournament shape this season.

McKay said Barrows is best suited to replace him as the remaining team members are on top of their games and have said the captain's role would be distracting.

"It's like when India's cricket star, Sachin Tendulkar, declined to lead his country after it affected his batting," McKay explained.

"There are some really responsible people on the team but they're still young and superstars in the sport. Kenneth Edwards, for example, said he didn't want that pressure.

"I was looking to Barrows for 2011 but his failure to compete in 2010 led to him being axed. I was ready to step aside but Edwards declined," he added.

Created a void

The situation has not only created a void but has put McKay in a spot of bother as Barrows has not registered for this year, nor is he in training.

McKay, meanwhile, has been busy making a gradual transition from athlete to coach, a process which started a year and a half ago when he took the reins of the newly formed female combined team.

He said he considers the female team his first responsibility and is looking to hand over the captain's post.

His run as female-team coach has been a successful one with the girls sitting on an unbeaten streak, defeating Vietnam, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA.

Last month, the team's captain, Sheckema Cunningham, handed Jamaica its first ever sparring medal at the International Taekwondo Federation's world championship in New Zealand.

The girls' impressive showing under McKay's guidance sent his coaching stocks soaring in addition to his already established record as captain of the male team.

The fight bug, he said, is still buzzing.

"I don't feel like retiring. I would like to fight masters, probably another two seasons, maybe longer," he stated.