PASSING THE BATON

CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE

by Renaldo Dorsett Sports Reporter The Tribune

Avision that began with

a single athlete and a dedicated support system has continued its exponential growth for two decades - producing elite athletes and improving the lives of the student athletes and families that join its programme.

The Star Trackers Track & Field Club has matured from those humble beginnings to become one of the leading youth development organizations in the Bahamas, synonymous with excellence in the sport and guiding its student athletes toward the path of enrichment as a well-rounded member of society.

Club founder, David Charlton, nationally renowned for his storied history in the sport, has overseen the club’s expansion for over 20 years, which now includes a full staff of coaches and more than 30 athletes.

Charlton’s accomplishments as a competitor in the sport includes 11 CARIFTA Games medals and a CARIFTA Games record in the 400mH which stood for 10 years. He was also a former Jr. National record holder in the 400mH for 26 years (1981-2007), a NCAA record holder and All-American and CAC Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championship Games competitor.

Coach Charlton has an IAAF Coaches Certification and Diploma up to Level V in sprints, hurdles, and relays. As a head coach he led the 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 CARIFTA Games Teams. He was also the 2003 Coordinator for the National Jr. Track & Field Programme and a coach on the 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Youth Championship Teams in Canada, Czech Republic, and Lille France, respectively. He also coached the 2004, 2006 and 2008 World Junior Championship Teams in Grosseto, Italy; Beijing, China; and Bydgoszcz Poland, respectively. He also served as the Men’s Coach of the 2012 Bahamas Olympic Team and the Gold medal winning Men’s 4x400 relay team.

The club’s strong support system, backed by its parents, led to the expansion of the coaching staff as they found new ways to serve as mentors, counselors, and positive role models for the athletes.

Charlton is assisted by Coach Rudolph Ferguson (IAAF Level IV Certified) and Coach Luther Rolle (IAAF Level I Certified). “We came together just by chance. Coach Rudolph Ferguson, his son was one of our first team members and he got involved as a parent. I suggested to him that he consider coaching, and he started working with me. Now he is a certified coach, he has traveled on a numerous national teams. This all came about because he took an interest in his kids and then he grew to love and understand the art of coaching,” Charlton said, “Coach Luther Rolle, his son and daughter were both members of our club and ended up getting full athletic scholarships to go off to college and his way of giving back and appreciating what we did, was to join the club and concentrate his work on the primary school kids. We also have coach Myriam Stapleton whose daughter trains with us and she is currently working on her certification. She is giving back to the programme by helping other kids. Trevor Mackey, who is also a former athlete of the club and Olympian, is now back contributing to the continuity of the programme as a sprints coach. The coaching team is blessed to also have Claudlyn Clarke, another former club member to be giving back to the programme as a long sprints coach. So, it is just a group of men and women who have decided to give back and help the community by developing our kids. We have produced world class athletes, doctors, lawyers, teachers, immigration officers, customs officers, accountants. So, we’re really as an organization giving back to our country.”

The club’s expansion has aligned with its mission statement.

“Parents’ involvement is key to our success,” Charlton said, “We call it a tripartite approach, parent - athlete - coach - like school. Certainly, that has been a major part of our organization and that is one of the reasons why our parents assist.

Star Trackers officially became a member of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) in 2001. The Club is a specialty club with specialized training for sprints and hurdles.

Ferguson added that the addition of new coaches continues to build upon the foundation lit two decades ago. “We took on some of the new coaches who we were mentoring and training in the coaching fraternity and we have all been very cohesive. We love what we do, it is all about training the next generation, mentoring the next generation, and building boys and girls into men and women. Coming together and staying together for this staff was easy and now we just continue to pull together and work together as a team for the younger generation of coaches and athletes,” Ferguson said, “Comparing the club, in its early days to now after so much success, it is about seasons and generations. What we always saw with parents’ involvement, that has continued today. The discipline, the hunger and desire of those involved in the tripartite approach into our coaching philosophy, when you have those three factors working together, it’s almost always a good recipe for success.”

Club members are perennial members of national teams whether on the local scene at club meets for the Kids Athletics segment of the club, or regionally and internationally at both the youth and senior level. Most notably, Stephen Newbold was The World Youth Champion in 2011 in the 200m and held the Carifta Record in the 400mH. Devynne Charlton, a two-time Olympic Qualifier, became the National Record Holder in the 100mH (12.61 secs) ahead of her Olympic debut in Tokyo 2021. Carmiesha Cox was a member of the 2016 Olympic Team.

“Comparing the club, in its early days to now after so much success, it’s about seasons and generations. What we always saw with parents’ involvement, that has continued today. The discipline, the hunger and desire of those involved in the tripartite approach

into our coaching philosophy, when you have those three factors working together, always a good recipe for success,” Ferguson said, “The Star Trackers organization has made a tremendous contribution to the national development of sports in the country by the very fact that a lot of them have gone to the very highest level of the sport of track and field. We have had club members participate in the Olympics, World Championships and elite meets at every level.”

After 2 years of competing on the BAAA circuit, the club transitioned to hosting its own meet with the Star Performers Classic.

“We saw the need for a better execution of competition and since then we have been the leaders in producing meets. I learned a whole lot from the late Livingston Bostwick who was the top meet director in the country. I was also the meet director for the first two editions of the IAAF World Relays, where I was able to learn even more,” Charlton said, “So we’ve been able to pull off some the meets that are full of excitement that runs on time, finishes on time and it’s been well received by the local clubs and coaches.”

In 2021, the club will host the 18th edition of the Star Performers Track & Field Classic.

“It is meaningful for us to be able to pull this year’s meet off under these current conditions. The coaches and the athletes have been very cooperative, parents from other clubs volunteering, so it has been a neighborhood effort. We normally staged this event in February and now we are in May, so we are asking more of our parents, more of our volunteers and more of the BACO officials. The fact that so far we’ve had so many successful track events this year, that means a lot for the track community.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has hindered sport globally and youth athletics in the region has been among the list of casualties with the cancellation of the CARIFTA Games in both 2020 and 2021. and in order to compete at their best, you have to train, that’s what we feed to the athletes and they have accepted the challenge. The fact that there is no CARIFTA this year is most disappointing to several our athletes who were really looking forward to making this year’s team. We have a number of kids in their first year of the U17 category and they met the qualifying standards, so you know there is disappointment. We hope they can build off it, look forward to next year, put in the work now so they can benefit from it next year. So, it’s important that kids are able to see that there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel and this present situation is totally out of their control. They must be able to move on, move past this and be prepared for better things to come,” Charlton said, “One of the things that we were hoping for is that we can again have some major performances by our young kids. A lot of college coaches look at CARIFTA to recruit but now that that is not an option, hopefully, athletes can now lay down some quality performances that can get the attention of collage coaches. “Ultimately we want them to earn scholarships, help them to develop as young men and women so that they can come back and again help this country to be a better country.”