National Scholastic Athletics Foundation

Project Triple Jump Clinic
National Scholastic Athletics Foundation
Chapel Hill, NC
Contact: steve.underwood@nationalscholastic.org
906-298-0959

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – During November’s Project Triple Jump Clinic in Dallas (DeSoto), it was all about improvising and overcoming unseasonable cold, wind, rain and sleet.  But this weekend, the participants should finally get some time to work outdoors with coaches Peter Pratt and Macka Jones.

The Project’s eight nationally elite TJ’ers are in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., this weekend – December 27-30 – for the second of their two domestic clinics for 2013-14.  The first, held the weekend prior to Thanksgiving last month, was dealt an obstacle with a crazy late-fall weather pattern that made training outdoors untenable.  But thanks to a cavernous hotel lobby and ample local gym, and some creativity, the athletes began their season in the program with some education and early-season training to fuel their strong aspirations of what they can accomplish in 2014.

This weekend’s forecast includes some possibility of rain, but also balmy temperatures in the 70s and possibly beyond 80.

The clinic coaching staff includes the aforementioned Bahamian National Team Coach Peter Pratt and Coach Macka L. Jones, the NSAF’s Project Triple Jump Coordinator.  Pratt has been coaching more than 30 years and is an IAAF Level V Diploma Elite Coach for Horizontal Jumps and currently coaches Jumper's INC.  He’s a former standout himself, winner of the inaugural CARIFTA Games and an NCAA champion, and has coached international medalists at every level.

Jones has been coaching more than 14 years and USATF Level II certified in the sprints, hurdles, jumps, and endurance events.  He also holds technical coaching certification from the USTFCCCA and has completed the IAAF Level V Jumps certification training.  While in El Paso, he was a championship coach at El Dorado HS and for the Texas Heat TC (which he co-founded), and now in the Dallas area coaches the Texas Faces TC and is a volunteer assistant at Cedar Hill HS.  His athletes have included champions like Felix Obi (now at Baylor) and current Project athletes KeAndre Bates and Felicienne Axel (see below).

The following select athletes were all in Dallas last month and will be here this weekend.  The first three are in their second year of the program; the other five, their first:

• Keturah Orji, Mt. Olive (Flanders, N.J.) senior – Orji’s mind-boggling junior year culminated with a World Youth bronze, with a 44-11 leap that made her #2 all-time, just ¾ of an inch off the HSR.  Earlier, she captured New Balance Nationals Indoor and Outdoor titles, as well as the World Youth Trials.  Amazingly, she started 2013 with a 41-0.75 PR!  She also leapt 20-11.75 in the long jump, as she won World Youth silver, and was the NBNO and WYT runnerup in that event.
• KeAndre Bates, Burges (El Paso, Texas) senior – Like Orji, Bates was also a World Youth finalist, finishing 9th with 50-8.25.  A better indication of what he can do came in WY qualifying earlier, when he leapt a US#2 51-6.25, leading all qualifiers to the final.  Bates also won the World Youth Trials, Great Southwest, Texas Relays, and the USATF JOs.  He’s the top national returnee for 2014, and he’s an outstanding long jumper, high jumper and hurdler, as well.
• Felicienne Axel, Columbus (Texas) junior – One of the leading young talents in the program, Axel impressed as a soph with a Texas 3A title with 40-1.5w after achieving a 40-11.25(nwi) in her Area 25-26 meet.  Measured by all-conditions jumps, she was the nation’s top soph.  At the end of her frosh campaign in the summer of 2012, she also captured the USATF JO 15-16 year-old title with a 39-6, the best legal jump by any 9th grader that year.
• Darrielle McQueen, North Florida Christian (Tallahassee, Fla.) senior – McQueen racked up a very impressive set of championships as a junior.  She captured the Florida Relays and Florida State Relays titles, won her 4th straight state 1A crown, then took the Golden South Classic, the NSAF’s Caribbean Scholastic Invite and the USATF JO 17-18 title.  With a US#10 best of 40-11, she’s the country’s #4 returnee.  Also a 19-7 LJ’er.
• Ja’Mari Ward, Cahokia (Ill.) sophomore – Ward had a great start to his prep career as a frosh, leading all 9th graders nationally with a 46-9 indoors and ranking #2 in his class outdoors with 46-8 and 48-6.5(nwi).  He was 3rd in his 2A state meet outdoors and 2nd in the IPTT Classic (indoor state).  He’s at least as good in the long jump, where he led US frosh in and out (23-4.5i, 23-7, 24-2(nwi)).
• Chinne Okoronkwo, Mountlake Terrace (Wash.) sophomore – Okoronkwo was the US#1 frosh last winter with her 39-5.5 for 2nd at Simplot, then outdoors ranked #2 among 9th-graders at 38-10.5 – and #1 under all-conditions with her 40-0(nwi) best.  She was 2nd at USATF JOs (15-16 age group).  A great all-around athlete, she also sports a 12-2 pole vault PR.
• Nashedah Mumin, Mission Oaks (Tulare, Calif.) sophomore – The only freshman that went further than the previously mentioned Okoronkwo last spring was ... Mumin.  Her wind-legal 39-9.5 at her Central Section Masters meet topped all 9th-graders.  She’s also a fine long jumper and high jumper.
• Arielle Mack, Burges (El Paso, Texas) freshman – Also a Coach Jones discovery, Mack is brand-new to the event, but went a very respectable 34-5.75 as an 8th-grader.  Already six feet tall and an outstanding volleyball player as well, she appears to have outstanding potential in the event that she hopes to develop over possibly a prep career in this program.

Two others beyond the selected athletes (who were also in Dallas in November) -- Allyson Weiss and Christian Cuellar -- are registered for Ft. Lauderdale.

This is the third year of the project, originated and produced by the National Scholastic Athletics Foundation (NSAF).  These clinics are open to all interested jumpers and coaches, but for the eight selected athletes, they’re part of a several-month-long program that will culminate in a full triple jump immersion session later in 2014 (likely during mid-summer) in the Bahamas – a nation known for triple jump excellence.

The Foundation, based in Chapel Hill, launched the project in the fall of 2011 after founder and Executive Director Jim Spier and COO Joy Kamani had observed that the triple jump was one of a few events where the U.S. was falling short in the Olympics and other international competitions, and aspired to start a program that would address the challenge.

For more information on Project Triple Jump, go to http://www.nationalscholastic.org/clinics/triplejumpcamp.

The National Scholastic Athletics Foundation is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to inspire youth to live healthy and active lifestyles, and to prepare them for success.