Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 125, December 2019 | Page 58

TRACK & FIELD
National Relay Coach
The successful move into coaching has once again
propelled Paul into the national team picture. “In
2015 I went to the World Athletics Championships
as a coach of individual athletes, and I was asked by
ASA when I was there to maybe just advise a bit on
the relay squad. I did that without interfering with the
official coaches, but out of that the idea was born
that someone needs to take control of the relays on a
more permanent basis,” he says.
In that 2015 World Champs, a strong South African
team consisted of Henricho Bruintjies, Anaso
Jobodwana, Antonio Alkana and Akani Simbine, but
failed to get to the final after a baton change mix-up
between Henricho and Anaso. It was then that Paul
sat down with ASA for the first time and made a
case for a national relay squad and national relay
coach. “The job of the individual coaches is to get
the athletes fast and ready for competition. The relay
coach needs to identify the best combination and
then drill the changeovers – but that will only work if
the squad is interested and buys into the fact that the
relay, in particular the men’s 4x100m relay, is a medal
prospect for South Africa.”
He says it has been a rocky road to get the athletes
and coaches to accept this new approach. After
the disillusionment of 2015, there was no team for
the Olympics in 2016, and 2017 saw many athletes
at loggerheads with ASA as the South African
Championships were scheduled on the same
weekend as the World Relay Championships in
Jamaica. The SA athletes were adamant that they
should be running on home soil, for their local fans,
and ironically, after not pushing the relay agenda for
many years, it was now ASA ordering the athletes
to go to Jamaica at the expense of their own event!
In the end, the athletes prevailed, and their very
successful #FillUpPotch campaign saw a full stadium
in Potchefstroom, and performances not seen at a
National Championships for many years.
Another challenge was changing the traditional view
held by many South African athletes, coaches and
administrators that the relays were more of a fun
event to end off the programme than a serious medal
opportunity – and it helped that the cream of South
Africa’s sprinters bought into this new approach.
“They were all eager to be part of the relay, which
makes my life easy, but also difficult in the sense that
I need to make sure I pick the best athletes and the
best combinations.” To this end Paul has very strict
criteria. “Only athletes who run better than 10.2 enter
the equation.”
Looking Ahead to Tokyo
Thanks to a renewed focus on the relays, the results
have followed, notably a new SA Record of
37.65 for the 4x100m in Doha at the recent
2019 World Champs. However, that
was in the semi-final round, and Paul
feels that a medal was lost in the
final, as the team came home
fifth in 37.73. “That was good
enough for a medal in previous
championships, and I know
the group of athletes we have
in the squad can take us to
a 37.1 or 37.2. That’s medal
territory now.”
He openly admits that for
him nothing but a medal
in Tokyo will be good
enough... and if it is bronze,
he will disappointed. But
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ISSUE 125 DECEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
his mandate goes beyond just the men’s 4x100m.
He also needs to develop the junior team, and look
to the future in the women’s and 4x400m relays.
“At this point the women’s 100m event just does
not have the depth for Tokyo, but I am excited
about what is happening at junior level. There are
a number of girls who are running 11.6’s. You can
work with that! Same with the junior men, where
there is some good talent, and if we can instill this
culture of relay running, South Africa can rake in
many more medals.”
Paul will be using the domestic season to test his
men’s 4x100m relay combinations and will hold three
camps in SA and one in Gemona, Italy to prepare
for the Olympics Relay Medal. “The athletes have to
attend, no exceptions,” he says, adding that ASA is
throwing its resources behind the team. “They have
been brilliant. Everything I have asked for I have been
given. The athletes will be based at the University
of Pretoria during the camps and ASA will fly in any
athlete that needs to travel to be at the camp.”
He will also be looking at having the Junior men’s and
women’s squads compete at the SA Championships
in preparation for the World Under-20 Championships
in Nairobi in July next year. It is an intriguing challenge
he has taken on and has certainly given him a new
impetus in his athletics career.
Roger
Paul has subsequently moved to Pretoria and now
works at the University of Pretoria, managing the
university’s sprint coaches. He has also gathered an
impressive array of athletes that he is now coaching,
with Simon and the hugely talented Kyle Appel, the
World Youth Champs silver medallist in 2015, having
moved with him from Cape Town. Also now part of
Paul’s stable are Henricho Bruintjies, the former SA
100m Record Holder, and Luxolo Adams, who won
the SA 200m title in 2018 and followed that up with
a bronze medal at the Africa Championships. World
Junior 400m hurdles champion, Sokwakhana ‘Soks’
Zazini has recently joined the squad as well.