Comments on Jamaican Secrets

For the person who commented that
the Jamaicans are not tested as frequently as other countries. I know that.  How many times were Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin
tested? You are naïve to think that testing catches the cheats. Let’s move on
and recognize that there is an air of suspicion that surrounds all sports at
the present time. I am not sure what can be done about this.

Concerning some of the other posts,
I know it is not JUST PE. Without talent all the PE in the world will not
produce Olympians or world record holders. The fact is that the highly industrialized
“first world” countries are rapidly losing the movement advantage. We need to
get our whole society away from the computer and TV and get out and exercise
and move. This is not to win medals, but to avoid a health crisis that will
bankrupt this country.

The comment about too much
competition is a point well taken, that is another problem in developed countries.
We think we need to have kids in organized competition from five years old on
up. In our country I am convinced that the competition is for the parents not
the kids. Parents can go to work on Monday and brag about how their kid won the
class 20 age 11.3 junior national title. It is ridiculous. When they talk about
primary school competition I assume it is the form of jamborees type play days.
That was a staple of the American system forty and fifty years ago. In fact
when I was growing up every Saturday we had school teams that played other
schools in the sport that was in season, this started in elementary school. The
key was that it was school based and supervised by trained teachers. Competition
for kids is not bad; it is the frequency and the goal of the competition that
is key. Kids love to race and test themselves.  I am all for a having a system wide jamboree
type play day four times a year in school district where the kids can show off what
they have learned in PE.