Why Jamaican H.S. athletes do so well at Penn?

JamesLee wrote:

TrackCoach wrote:

The primary reason is the obvious ones, they are very good, well trained, highly motivated and have the pride and confidence born out of tradition. Track & Field after all is their national sport. The debate over the Jamaican relative dominates in the COA sprint relays will go on forever.

The major arguments are:

1. The Jamaican kids are on average a year older, a Jamaican H.S. senior is the age of a U.S. college freshman.

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TrackCoach it is obvious that you are as bias against the Jamaican athletes as most Americans are (assuming you're an American). I decided to read your thread because I knew that your main argument for "Why Jamaican H.S. do so well at Penn" would have been the "AGE" factor.

"The Jamaican kids are on average a year older, a Jamaican H.S. senior is the age of a U.S. college freshman".

This my friends is one of those things we hear growing up that we forget where we 1st heard it. Then we begin to believe this malarkey so much, we start to spread it as if its gospel. Even forgetting to fact-check our own bullshit because it sounds good when we become defenseless in explaining how a 3rd World Country with no proper training facilities can produce better athletes than the "GOOD OLE USA".

This fabrication is just as popular as that well known urban legend that if you win the lotto and die with out claiming all your winnings, the remain prize money cannot be willed to your children or estate.

This is so false that when I hear people saying it today, I ask GOD to please help them and to bless them with some knowledge.

What make these statements so interesting is… today! we have a thing called the World Wide Web/Internet and on the web we have a powerful search engine called GOOGLE.

I SUGGEST WE USE IT BEFORE POSTING NON-SENSE

Here are the facts:

1. The total required years for completing high school in Jamaica is 5.The 6th & 7th years(6th form) are optional and equivolent to post-secondary education.Each year is called a “FORM” therefore, 1st form….2nd form…3rd form etc…(based on the British Edu. system).A child entering the 1st form can be as young as 10/11, if you do the math we will see that the oldest seniors in a Jamaican HS is between the ages of 15 & 16.

I am sure just like here in the “GOOD OLE USA” there are always stragglers, dunce, educationally challenged… whatever we want to call them, who well take more than 5 years to complete their required portion of their HS education.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Jamaicahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education

(look for United Kingdom)

Maybe these are the few student-athletes that TRACKCOACH is speaking of

Now! Because I know how to read and do simple math I will ask someone else to do so…

CAN SOME ONE PLEASE POINT ME TO THE STATE IN AMERICA WHERE THE AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR IS BETWEEN THE AGES OF 15-16?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_United_Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_education_in_the_United_States

The Jamaican educational system is structured to be a mirror image of the English (yes England) educationally system.

FOR THOSE OF US THAT DIDN’T KNOW…JAMAICA WAS ONCE A COLONY OF THE BRITISH MONARCH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Form

2. Track and Field is not the National Sport of Jamaica, that sport would be Soccer/Football.

3. What makes H.S. Track and Field so popular in Jamaica is the institution that each student-athlete represents. Like the fanfare of the US college football/basketball sport systems, students and alumni identify winning a T&F championship with achieving Nirvana. Jamaican HS’s are held at an extremely high regard and to be able to say that my alma mater, my school or my team has won, is paramount.

TRACKCOACH: 2nd reason

“The warm climate and the point in the season. Most mid-Atlantic, NE and NW schools are barely half-way into their outdoor season, while the Jamaican kids have completed their championships. The clearest evidence of this comes from the U.S. national meets in June, which usually produces faster times than Penn.”

This is also a fallacy. If I were to comparing the times coming out of USA H.S. Track & Field Nationals, I would compare them to Jamaica’s Boys & Girls Championships. Not Penn Relays were conditions are poor for producing exceptional times.

I mean let’s think…End of April…in the North East of the United States, OK! Enough said.

Another thing about the above statement is: I cant recall a year when any Jamaican team run a faster wining time at Penn’s, that was better than their B&G Championship winning times.

TRACKCOACH: 3rd reason

“The top U.S. sprint talent comes from the warm weather states like California, Texas and Florida, which are underrepresented at Penn”.

This! I would have to agree with 100%. It's no secret that the top US high school performers aren’t represented well at Penn Relays but Jamaica has been attending Penn Relays since the 60s. Several California and Texas schools have attempted to dethrone them but they have only been successful a handful of times in the last 10years.