ATHLETICS: Former Olympic ace inspires students (From Enfield Independent)

ATHLETICS: Former Olympic ace inspires students

11:03am Monday 28th January 2008

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FORMER Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Olympic athlete Tony Jarrett spent an afternoon in an Enfield classroom last week to pass on tips to sports students.

Jarrett, who competed in the 110m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, Atlanta 1996, Barcelona 1992 and Seoul 1988, was born in Enfield.

And the former sprint ace, who won medals at the World, European and Commonwealth Games, returned to his home town to give a talk to sports students at Enfield College.

The 39-year-old would probably have enjoyed even more success in his career had it not been for GB teammate Colin Jackson, with his only individual gold medal coming at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

Jarrett, who is now an athletics coach, shared his experiences as a professional athlete with the students at the Hertford Road college, as well as running an exclusive practical coaching session.

That included a 110m hurdles skills development session, with Jarrett revealing tips and skills strategies for enhancing athletic performance.

He said: "It was an honour to be invited to come to the college and speak to the students about the experiences I went through and what I learnt when I was a competing athlete, and also to share with them what I am doing now as an athletic coach.

"I was very impressed with the welcome I got from everyone and would be happy to come back to the college again to run more inspirational workshops for young teenagers."

Delores King, sports lecturer at Enfield College, said: "The aim of Tony Jarrett's visit was to raise our students' aspirations about their future career prospects within athletics coaching, and to enlighten them about the many potential exciting job opportunities arising from London hosting the 2012 Olympics.

"We all really enjoyed meeting Tony Jarrett and there has been excellent feedback from the sports students about the visit."

The courses on offer at Enfield College are designed to assist students with developing their careers within areas such as sports coaching and sports development, but also to prepare them for a range of careers within the sport, leisure and fitness industries generally.

And Ahmet Safa, an 18-year-old student on the BTEC national certificate in sports development, coaching and fitness course, said: "It was a huge bonus for us to have someone like Tony Jarrett come in and talk to us about his experiences of athletic coaching.

"He has worked with many athletes, and it was really useful for me to pick up some tips as I eventually want to go in to sports coaching as a career myself."

Jarrett also handed over a GB athletic kit to the college's sports department, which will become one of the prizes in a raffle to be held at a later date.

The proceeds from the raffle will be donated to the Cardiomyopathy Association (CMA), a registered charity that helps people and their families affected by the heart muscle condition cardiomyopathy.

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