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J'can hurdler Delloreen Ennis reaching for the stars
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer
Monday, March 21, 2011
ORLANDO, Florida — She would not come straight out and say a number or time or even mention the word "record", but Jamaican sprint hurdler Delloreen Ennis has set the bar high for the 2011 season. Higher than ever before.
Ennis, who turned 36 years old on March 5, says she is expecting to exceed all she has done in the past after changing coaches at the start of this season, plus she has started working with a group for the first time in her long career.
Delloreen Ennis (foreground) executes a training drill on sand in Orlando recently. (Photo: Paul Reid)
"Once I get what I need to get done from what coach is trying to get me to achieve, it is going to be a great year," she told the Observer after a training session on a brisk March morning at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida recently.
Ennis said she is not concerned with anyone but herself as she drives forward. "I am focusing on myself, I can't give an account of all my competitors," she said.
"I know what coach and I have planned; we have a goal set in mind (and) it's a goal that is going to be hard, but reachable and none of the other competitors have ever run that fast, so you can read between the lines," she said without a hint of smile or jest.
The former St Jago athlete, who claims she was feeling "refreshed" by her move to Orlando, says she does not watch the calendar. "My mind is still young and I feel refreshed and revived, as you get older there will be knocks, but this is part of the game... but my mindset is that I am ready to go and I am motivated," Ennis noted.
That's saying a lot for a hurdler who has a personal best of 12.50 seconds, winner of three IAAF World Championships medals, Beijing Olympic finalist and Pan-American champion in 2007.
One major change for Ennis this year, is that for the first time since becoming a professional, she will be part of a training group.
Ennis joined fellow Jamaican hurdler Dwight Thomas and quarter-miler Novleen Williams-Mills at the Orlando, Florida camp of the legendary American coach Brooks Johnson. Also in that camp are American 110m recorder holder David Oliver and Joel Brown, so there should be no shortage of competition for her.
Getting into Johnson's camp is by no means an easy feat, as the 77-year-old told journalists at an International Association of Athletics Federation Day in the Life series on Oliver recently, that he hand picks all who come under his guidance.
One of the traits, he said, he wants to see in all his athletes is "character".
Ennis told the Observer that her agent spoke to Brooks during the IAAF World Cup in Croatia last year and said he "liked my character" from seeing me on circuit.
She said she had first travelled to Florida in November last year "to have a look around then came back in late January".
The benefit of training with a group, said the self-confessed "loner", is the motivation one gets from each other.
"We push and support each other every training session... we keep each other going, we work hard but we make it fun... it is not a big group as that was one concern to go into a big group and get lost," she said.
She skipped the Indoors season this year to continue "working out some technical stuff" and also to correct "some things" as the whole package is about strength and speed.
The Florida Relays at the start of April could be where she opens, she hinted, but said her main early season meet will be at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 7.
Read more: <A style="COLOR: #003399" href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/J-can-hurdler-Delloreen-Ennis-reaching-for-the-stars_8545978#ixzz1HF0uINbx">http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz1HF0uINbx
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer
Monday, March 21, 2011
ORLANDO, Florida — She would not come straight out and say a number or time or even mention the word "record", but Jamaican sprint hurdler Delloreen Ennis has set the bar high for the 2011 season. Higher than ever before.
Ennis, who turned 36 years old on March 5, says she is expecting to exceed all she has done in the past after changing coaches at the start of this season, plus she has started working with a group for the first time in her long career.
Delloreen Ennis (foreground) executes a training drill on sand in Orlando recently. (Photo: Paul Reid)
"Once I get what I need to get done from what coach is trying to get me to achieve, it is going to be a great year," she told the Observer after a training session on a brisk March morning at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida recently.
Ennis said she is not concerned with anyone but herself as she drives forward. "I am focusing on myself, I can't give an account of all my competitors," she said.
"I know what coach and I have planned; we have a goal set in mind (and) it's a goal that is going to be hard, but reachable and none of the other competitors have ever run that fast, so you can read between the lines," she said without a hint of smile or jest.
The former St Jago athlete, who claims she was feeling "refreshed" by her move to Orlando, says she does not watch the calendar. "My mind is still young and I feel refreshed and revived, as you get older there will be knocks, but this is part of the game... but my mindset is that I am ready to go and I am motivated," Ennis noted.
That's saying a lot for a hurdler who has a personal best of 12.50 seconds, winner of three IAAF World Championships medals, Beijing Olympic finalist and Pan-American champion in 2007.
One major change for Ennis this year, is that for the first time since becoming a professional, she will be part of a training group.
Ennis joined fellow Jamaican hurdler Dwight Thomas and quarter-miler Novleen Williams-Mills at the Orlando, Florida camp of the legendary American coach Brooks Johnson. Also in that camp are American 110m recorder holder David Oliver and Joel Brown, so there should be no shortage of competition for her.
Getting into Johnson's camp is by no means an easy feat, as the 77-year-old told journalists at an International Association of Athletics Federation Day in the Life series on Oliver recently, that he hand picks all who come under his guidance.
One of the traits, he said, he wants to see in all his athletes is "character".
Ennis told the Observer that her agent spoke to Brooks during the IAAF World Cup in Croatia last year and said he "liked my character" from seeing me on circuit.
She said she had first travelled to Florida in November last year "to have a look around then came back in late January".
The benefit of training with a group, said the self-confessed "loner", is the motivation one gets from each other.
"We push and support each other every training session... we keep each other going, we work hard but we make it fun... it is not a big group as that was one concern to go into a big group and get lost," she said.
She skipped the Indoors season this year to continue "working out some technical stuff" and also to correct "some things" as the whole package is about strength and speed.
The Florida Relays at the start of April could be where she opens, she hinted, but said her main early season meet will be at the Jamaica International Invitational on May 7.
Read more: <A style="COLOR: #003399" href="http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/J-can-hurdler-Delloreen-Ennis-reaching-for-the-stars_8545978#ixzz1HF0uINbx">http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz1HF0uINbx