BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NOT since the 2003 Carifta Games in Trinidad & Tobago has the Federation brought home a gold medal at the region’s top youth athletics competition, the Carifta Games, but that may all change this year thanks to Nevisian Javelin sensation Adrian Williams.
The 2003 gold came from Tiandra Ponteen in the Girls U20 200m and she went on to become one of the nation’s biggest international stars along with people like Kim Collins and Virgil Hodge.
Unlike Ponteen, however, the 15-year-old Williams has not spent his sporting career focusing on the discipline he is expected to medal in. On Nevis he is better known on the cricket pitch as an intimidating pace bowler and a solid sprinter on the track.
“Adrian has always been an exciting sprinter from way back in the Inter-Primary [School Championships]. We saw him as a part of that and knew he could run very fast,” Williams’ coach Wakely Daniel told SKNVibes.
“He was training for the 100m and 200m until he was playing around one day, as is often the case. So many times you just pick something up and mess around, but when I saw him throw I said, ‘Man!’”
While the Gladiators Track Club, of which Daniel is President and Williams is a member, has a rich history of bringing athletes like Tesril Nisbett, Jevon Claxton, Trevorne Nisbett and Shervon Greene up to international competition standards through intense training, Daniel said that Williams is a natural when it comes to the javelin.
“He was a diamond in the rough. We started working with him on his technique and recently we brought in an expert in Mr. Collin Walters. He is working with Adrian, Tesril Nisbett and a young lady by the name of Kerisha Powell to refine their craft and everything else.
“I will be honest with you; it came about quite suddenly but guess what, we are quite happy that it happened!” Daniel said at the recently completed TDC/Coca-Cola/LIME Interschool Championships.
When asked where his talent comes from, Williams shyly said he believes it is from his grounding as a pace bowler.
“I have always played cricket and I guess the cricket built into my arm allows me to throw.”
The results speak for themselves. The gold medal winning marks at the past three Carifta Games in the Boys U17 Javelin have been 52.83m in 2007, 55.98m in 2008 and 53.59m in 2009. Meanwhile, Williams easily surpassed the 56m mark at both the Interschool Championships and the National Junior Championships this year.
“I saw it on the computer where the throw was 53m [in 2009] and when I looked at mine it was way further. So, I just thought that’s a gold medal for me. I know I can throw it farther than I have been,” the youth from Eden Brown said with a smile.
Daniel too said that he feels Williams is in a league of his own in his age division.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on him, but we are expecting a gold at the Carifta Games…[and] of course, ultimately, we are looking for a medal at the [2012] Olympics.”
Adding to Williams’ potential success is his new found focus on his hidden talent for the javelin.
“If it comes to where I have to choose between track and cricket—well, right now I had a chance to go to a Leewards cricket under 15, but I chose to go to Carifta,” he said.
Beyond the Carifta Games this year, Williams’ future looks very bright. Daniel told SKNVibes that he has already been approached by some universities regarding Williams’ outstanding raw talent, but had to turn them away due to his young age. When the time comes, however, the coach plans to continue the Gladiators Track Club’s history of placing athletes in overseas learning institutions.
Williams will be joined on the Federation’s Carifta team by past medalists Tesril Nisbett and Kadeem Smith, the internationally experienced duo of Trefesana White and Jason Rogers and the nation’s top Shot Putters Lonzo Wilkinson Jr. and Dion Samuel.
The squad is easily one of the most talent-packed in recent times and the nation no doubt has high hopes for their resounding success at the 2010 Carifta Games in the Cayman Islands, which will be held from April 2-5.
