Glen Mills to be honoured in South Florida

HIGHLY ACCLAIMED Jamaican track coach, Glen Mills, is to be honoured in South Florida by the People Profile Organization, which is to present him with its ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’.

Mills will join a distinguished list of people who have received the award, including singer/actress Melba Moore, Miami Heat basketball star Dwyane Wade, and Jamaican sprinter, Veronica Campbell-Brown.

The announcement of the award to Mills was made by head of People Profile, Dr Allan Cunningham, during the official launch of the People Profile campaign last week. The award will be presented to Mills in September.

Mills, head coach of the Racers Track Club, is most well known for guiding the career of multiple World and Olympic record holder, Usain Bolt, as well as being the man behind the youngest 100-metre World Champion, Yohan Blake.

Mills also coached Kim Collins and Raymond Stewart. And is the current coach of up-and-comer Oblique Seville and the more experienced Zharnell Hughes.

Mills enjoyed athletics from an early age and, after moving to Camperdown High School, promptly joined the sprinting team at age 13. After his first year he was dissatisfied with his performances and gave up on the idea of becoming a professional sprinter. Despite this setback, Mills was still enamoured with athletics and frequently attended the practice meetings to watch the others run. The high school coach, Henry McDonald Messam, noticed his interest and reluctance to participate and so assigned him various tasks and chores to keep him busy.

Two years later, Mills had learnt well from the head coach and was given the job of coaching a class of younger track and field athletes. He retained the job after graduation, progressing to form an official part of the Camperdown High School coaching staff. The arrival of a new head of the sports department threatened Mills coaching opportunities and he was sacked in favour of a more experienced coach.

The move backfired as many of the school’s better athletes chose to stand by Mills, training with him at his new, unofficial training ground. Mills was quickly reinstated at the school and went on to train many successful sprinters.

PROMINENT

By the early 1970s, Mills had trained a significant number of male sprinters in the national junior team. The Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) called on him to work on the team, for the CARIFTA Games. Following this appointment Mills became a prominent coach on the Jamaican athletics scene. He continued to work on his coaching style and earned a diploma from the International Olympic Committee training centre in Mexico and a qualification in High-Level Sprint Tech training at the IAAF Training Centre in Puerto Rico.

Apart from the Life Time Achievement Award, other awards will be given for community service, outstanding press personality and outstanding business leader, among others.

A number of schools in Jamaica benefit from proceeds raised from the award ceremony.