Carifta bronze medallist Xavier Mulugata, 18, is applauding the vision of three-time Olympic medallist Richard Thompson to bolster the ability of emerging athletes through his inaugural sprinting camp.
The Gatorade Richard Thompson Sprinting Camp was the athlete development initiative undertaken by the Olympic sprinter on Saturday and held at the outfield at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, Port-of-Spain, with the aim of nurturing future champions in sport.
In a T&T Guardian interview, Mulugata, a 100m and 200m specialist, lauded the opportunity to be part of the weekend exercise which he firmly believed would strengthen his ability to medal going forward.
"Being the young athlete that I am, I came out here to learn more knowledge of the sport; to better the sport for my personal gain. It's good to meet with one of our local stars to get more knowledge. That's my main purpose," he said.
Relating some major hurdles he had to overcome over the years, Mulugata said: "It was a hard road, because for the previous season, I've been in an out of injury. It was a hard road for me fighting with injury, trying to get to that competitive stage. So it wasn't an easy road at all. It was a lot of hard work and dedication and not giving up at all."
Ahead of the practical sessions at the weekend, Thompson and his team engaged athletes in discussion on the importance of nutrition, before they went on to understand some aspect of the body's mechanics and how this area of knowledge could help an athlete run efficiently.
Gregory Seale and his team from Movement Mechanics and Shane Cooper of Atlis Performance Evolution were the coaching experts on hand to ensure the estimated 100 athletes in development achieved the right form in the execution of the routines.
Mulugata said: "The drills that were demonstrated here are very important drills, showing you how to work the smaller muscles, because a lot of people tend to forget about the smaller muscles. It's really about learning new stuff and incorporating it in your training sessions. Good drills were learnt. It's really necessary for improvement and to carry about in your daily routine. I think it would enhance my performance in term of competitiveness."