Source: www.guardian.co.tt
Story by: Nicholas Clarke
Newly appointed national cycling coach Desmond Dickie is confident that he can lead T&T’s riders to success, since he is one of the top coaches in the world. The Trinidadian, who signed a seven-month contract with the T&T Cycling Federation last month, has held several high profile positions during his 30-year career, including stints as the National Track Coach for the Canadian Cycling Association, USA Cycling and Hong Kong. His latest assignment will involve preparing T&T’s senior team for the upcoming Pan American Games in Columbia in May, which will serve as a qualifier for the 2012 Olympics in London. Speaking to the Guardian recently, he revealed his plans to move the sport forward.
“I hope I can develop a fraternity of riders who are competitive at world level,” he said. “I think I am one of the better coaches in the world and I’m fortunate enough to have had the experience of coaching riders who have won events at the World Championships, Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games.” The road to the Olympics will be difficult for T&T, Dickie pointed out, since its cyclists had missed the chance to earn qualification points during the 2010/2011 World Cup season:
“We will have to try and find avenues that we can go and compete in to achieve UCI points that will get us back in the same brackets as those guys from Canada, America, Columbia and Venezuela. We have an opportunity at the Pan American Championships and that’s a start.”In order to improve the standard of the sport in T&T, Dickie feels it will be necessary to contruct a new modern facility; something the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Anil Roberts has promised to do by the end of the year.