Chinese athletes, coach in Barbados for Joseph Payne Classic

Close to 50 athletes and coaches got a chance yesterday to bolster the knowledge and technique in the throwing disciplines – namely Shot put and Discus – when they were allowed to pick the brains of Pan-AM and Olympic Gold Medalist Mac Wilkins.

Wilkins, who currently coaches world-class athletes in China, is in Barbados ahead of next weekend’s Joseph Payne Classic and conducted a workshop at the National Stadium.

Before heading out to the circles, Wilkins hosted an interactive indoor session where he held a captive audience and urged everyone to always give of their best as not wanting it enough would make the entire experience a waste of time. “If you just go through the motions, you’re not going to get anything out of it. If you give it everything you got, you’ll get a lot out of it. Even if you don’t become champion of Barbados, even if you’re not the best in your region. But if you give it everything you’ve got, that’s first place. That’s the highest reward you can get. You’ll learn something about yourself, you’ll learn a skill, you’ll learn confidence, you’ll understand how to work for a long-term goal and that’s the biggest reward,” he said.

During his talk, Wilkins said that he would be teaching the basics and the finer points of throwing techniques as he stressed the importance of working on their power position, setting balance, mental preparation and what he called a “technique machine”.

Hailing from the United States and representing that country at the 1976 and 1984 Olympic Games where he picked up Gold and Silver respectively in the Discus, Wilkins said that he was lucky to compete until the age of 38. With two of his Chinese charges, Sunshine and Tan Shen in Barbados to train and compete in the Classic, Wilkins told The Barbados Advocate that they came down to help with the promotion of the sport. “I have been talking to Charles for many years about coming down here and I have an affinity for the Caribbean. We have finally been able to put it together and it’s a coincidence that the Chinese are my clients now, but I’m glad that it has finally worked out and we’ll see what we can do,” he said.

On the outside, the trio instructed and corrected on some of the finer points of the athletes’ throwing technique and Wilkins said that he hoped that they would all take at least one thing away from the day. “Hopefully there’s one item that everybody remembers. I don’t know what it’s going to be but just one thing that would be of value for them moving forward and learning and progressing. I want to be able to promote the sport and help young athletes learn and grow and however that plays out, we’ll see. I have been kind of a throwing and track and field evangelist and when you end up at this point, you feel compelled to share with others who are hungry and want to learn. That’s easy,” he said.

The Joseph Payne Classic takesplace on January 25 at the National Stadium.