Published On:Monday, September 06, 2010

OLYMPIC sprint champion and IAAF council member Pauline Davis-Thompson is pleased to announce the formation of the Bahamas High-performance Track Academy (BHTA), an athletic training programme for selected high school and professional athletes.

The new BHTA will provide talented young high school athletes with the necessary support that they would need to be both athletically and academically successful, while further developing, nurturing, and enhancing the athletic skills of their professional counterparts.

BHTA will take a holistic approach to the coaching, training, and mentoring of its athletes, with the goal of providing them with the tools and skills necessary to maximize their potential for longevity in the high performance world of track and field and the highly competitive world of academia. "Almost with surety I can say, when an athlete leaves our programme, any coach, in any major college or university, will want to recruit them. It would be up to them to choose from the many offers that they will potentially receive if they come and successfully advance through the programme," says double Olympic medallist Davis-Thompson, who, in addition to having almost 32 years of success on the track, has also had a successful career as a coach.

A NCAA coach of the year at the University of Tennessee, where she coached Jeneba Tormoh to a World Junior Championship in the 100m, Davis-Thompson has also coached American quarter-miler Monique Hennagan to a US Championship and a fourth place finish in the 400m at the 2004 Olympics.

In addition, she has guided Bahamian 400m runner Christine Amertil to World Indoor silver and bronze medals, as well as a NACAC championship record run of 50.34 in the 400m - a time that still stands as a record today.

Now, the Olympic champion is set to impart this wealth of coaching knowledge on a new generation of young Bahamian track athletes, as she seeks to give back to the youth, the nation, and the nation's growing track and field programme.

From September 24-26 at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Complex, the BHTA will host trials for high school students - from ages twelve (12) to sixteen (16) years old - who are presently not affiliated with one of the already established track clubs.

Trials will be conducted - on Friday, September 24 - in the 100 and 400 meters, beginning at 6pm. On Saturday, September 25, beginning at 8am, trails will be held for the 110m hurdles. And on Sunday, September 26, again starting at 8am, trials will be conducted in the 200 and 800 meter disciplines.

The two male and female athletes (12-13 and 14-16) showing the most potential in a particular discipline will be considered for the Academy.

In addition to their athletic abilities, students will also be considered based on their ability to succeed academically, as part of the BHTA's aim is have its athletes physically and academically ready to further their track and field careers - post high school - at one of the many NCAA Division I institutions in its network of colleges and universities.

Davis-Thompson will be joined in this new venture by her former Atlanta-based training partner and coach, Mark Humes.

An English lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Humes was a former nationally ranked decathlete at Morehouse College and was named Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2000 for having lead the Marist High School Boys track and field programme to regional championships.

Humes also brings a wealth of knowledge to the organisation having served as an assistant sprint coach at Morehouse College and the University of Puerto Rico. He has coached several world champion and Olympic athletes, including Aaron Cleare, Derrick Atkins, and Adrian Griffith, as well as New Orleans Saints' receiver and Atlanta native Leigh Torrence.