WRITE TO THE TOP
STOUTE TO GIBE HIS
BEST SHOT IN LOS ANGELES
By Kwame Laurence
Sports Desk
Express
February 18, 2000
Page 73
Many have been the assessments of Trinidad and Tobago's performance
in Sunday's 0-4 Gold Cup defeat to Mexico.
One came from the pen of Express football reporter Irving Ward and
another from the mouth of coach Bertille St Clair. Here is a new one. It
comes from the country's premier shot putter Dave Stoute.
"The
team shone in the first half, and had the tools to win. But at that level, mental application is
what is needed. As with all sport, it's
70-90 percent mental, but though we knew what we had to do, we got
rattled. We played 45 minutes of world-class
football in a 90-minute game."
The
21-year-old athlete is passionate about football and goes so far as to write
his own match reports. For the moment,
they are for Stoute's eyes only, but one day he hopes to be a sports
journalist.
For
now, his full-time 'job' is the one thing that's ahead of football on his
shortlist of passions. And if he does
fulfill his tremendous potential, a great deal will be written about the
writer. The 1999 CAC Championship gold
medallist is fast approaching James Dedier's 17.86 metres national record, and
he has done it all on his own.
Self-coached
and self-motivated, Stoute now has a personal best throw of 17.26m, a distance
he recorded en route to gold at last year's National Senior Track and Field
Championships.
But
the Petrotrin athlete is at the crossroads.
Once he continues to train with the intensity that has brought him this
far, there will be improvement.
However, unless he is exposed to top-class coaching and competition,
Stoute will not put Trinidad and Tobago on the throwing map - a sad waste of
talent.
But
he is determined not to go down that road, and many hours on the Internet have
reaped a harvest of long-distance relationships. One online friend, Mohamad Ali Saatara, is throwing coach at the
California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA).
Surprised
at the progress Stoute has made on his own, crossing 17 metres and becoming
quite proficient at the difficult spin technique, Saatara is determined to get
his hands on what is quite obviously the best shot put talent in this part of
the world. The Iranian wants Stoute to
attend a three-month training camp at his school, and insists that the exposure
will be a springboard for the T&T athlete's track and field career.
"The
camp is very important for Dave. The
experience of throwing against top shot putters and training with guys who
throw further will be a great source of motivation. Never before has he had to throw 18 metres to qualify for a
final. The one-on-one coaching and real
competition will be priceless."
Saatara
has a great vision for the St Croix (close to Princes Town) thrower.
"He
is very talented, and will achieve world-class distances if given the
opportunity to train and compete with high-level athletes. He will be ready to throw over 18 metres
this season, and to represent your country at the Olympics."
But
the reality is that Stoute is not employed.
Instead, he devotes himself full-time to his sport. Unfortunately, since his professional
approach does not have a salary attached, the California trip is beyond his
means. Nor can he rely on parental
support, having lost both his mother and father before reaching adulthood.
Luckily,
there is a concerned party in the corner of the three-time Carifta Games
champ. Jim Clarke has assumed the role
of manager, and the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) official is
pleading for help, not only for his charge's sake but also for the sake of the
sport.
"We're
looking for private enterprise to come in and assist. This is an opportunity for Dave, as well as for those to
follow. Young people are not motivated
to take up field events, but Dave's development into a world-class thrower
could inspire talented athletes to focus their energies there."
The
Cowen Hamilton/Gasparillo Composite graduate has also grasped the big picture,
and is excited at the potential for growth in field athletics.
"I'm
trying to be a pioneer. The new
standard in local sprinting set by Ato Boldon has resulted in the success we've
been having at junior level: Marc Burns, Darrel Brown."
"And
I'm seeing that type of effect as well when I get the T&T standard up to a
world level," Stoute continues.
"I want to make people understand they don't need to limit
themselves. I want to open doors for the
ones who will follow; not chase records.
Records are broken, but a road that is cut is cut!"
If
the CSULA training camp doors do open for Stoute next month, the 19-metre mark,
described as "pretty extraordinary" by Saatara, will almost certainly
be attained. That day will be an
historic one for T&T and the English-speaking Caribbean.
The
pursuit of his sports journalism dream would inevitably be put on hold, for a
decade or so, as Stoute goes for throwing glory at CAC, Pan Am, Commonwealth
and Olympic level.
Temporarily
continuing in the spectator role at football grounds in south and central
Trinidad would not be a problem for the Couva resident. Local, regional and international athletics
would be the better for it. Not to mention
the minor league forwards who would not have to contend with the imposing
presence of a hard-tackling defender, standing five feet, ten inches in his
socks and weighing in at 258 pounds.
And
growing.
|
YEAR |
MEET |
BEST DISTANCE |
|
1994 |
Carifta
Games Under-17 champion |
|
|
1995 |
Carifta
Games U-20 silver medallist |
14.11 metres |
|
1996 |
Carifta
Games U-20 champion |
14.51 metres |
|
1997 |
Carifta
Games U-20 champion Pan
American Junior Championship finalist |
15.62 metres |
|
1998 |
|
14.62 metres |
|
1999 |
CAC
Open Championship gold medallist |
17.26 metres |
|
|
|
|