Coaches using false promises to attract primary school athletes

St Jago High School girls team coach Jeffery Gordon believes that some track and field coaches are luring students to their high schools with false promises.

Gordon was among coaches from several of Jamaica's most prominent high schools who converged at the National Stadium yesterday with the aim of recruiting athletes from this year's INSPORTS Primary Athletics Championships.

Some coaches were observed giving instructions to a number of athletes as they prepared to compete in their respective events.

"What can create an issue are sometimes false promises that are made to parents about what will happen to their kids when they come to their school," Gordon told STAR Sports.

Obvious talents

"Recruiting can become challenging because a lot of people would be interested in the same athlete as obvious talents are identified by everyone," said Gordon.

"I recruit on the basis of education. We want the talent but one thing I recognise and I am very open to parents about that is that 95 per cent of kids that leave high school will not make a living out of track and field," Gordon said.

He added that he encouraged his athletes to do well in their school work because track and field is an avenue for them to use to get a degree in university after they leave high school.

"We try to ensure that parents understand the value of the educational part of it because as a parent myself, I would feel really bad if five or seven years after they leave they cannot matriculate to university," Gordon said.