T&T sprinter Jereem Richards is loving life at his new training camp in Clermont, Florida, USA. The 200-metre and 400m runner moved from the University of Alabama under coach Blaine Wiley to the sunshine state under American coach Lance Brauman a month ago. Richards had been with Wiley since 2017 but said the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the state of Alabama had made the move necessary.
In an interview on i95.5fm, Richards said, “With the things that are happening in the world and not being able to train sufficiently with regards to COVID-19 and let’s say it gets back bad and we wouldn’t be able to use the facilities in the College (University of Alabama), I didn’t want to take chances and I decided to put myself in a position where, in the event that this happens, I’m somewhere that I will be able to train, somewhere where I have other professional athletes that might be going through the same struggles.”
In addition to joining up with American track star Noah Lyles at the camp, Richards also has several countrymen with him in Florida. The likes of Machel Cedenio, Kelly-Ann Baptiste, Keston Bledman and Khalifa St Fort all train in the same camp. He says such a professional environment has been a major help for him as he prepares for the Tokyo Olympic Games, next year.
He said, “Being around a group of professionals like this is very different to what I’m used to because at the College campus that I used to train on I was the only professional guy there, so it was difficult for me. I would have to dig deep all the time and push myself whereas now we will all have practices together and we will all look out for each other and push each other.”
Richards, who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal two years ago in the men’s 200m event said he had consulted several people including coach Wiley and his wife before making the move. Now he is aiming to not only ready himself physically for the Olympic Games which takes place between July 23 and August 8 next year, but also mentally.
He said, “My plans for next year is to be mentally stable and mentally prepared because I believe one of the biggest things in all sports is you need to be mentally ready, you need to believe in yourself, you need to be very confident in your abilities and not doubt yourself. I want to be the best athlete I could possibly be.”
Richards also put to rest any lingering questions as to whether he will try to qualify in the men’s 100m event having competed in that distance at the 2019 National Championships.
“After dabbling in the 100m event last year, I kind of like the 100m a little bit but I’m not going to put anything else on the back burner. At the end of the day, the 200m is my bread and butter,” said Richards, who has already made the Olympic qualifying standard for next year’s Games.