Local-born foreign-based cycling sensation Njisane Phillip had lost faith in this country’s preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games and was close to returning to the United States in hope of seeking a spot on a rival team.
That would have been the case, however, had multiple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon not learnt of his frustrations, sat him (Phillip) down for a heart-to-heart and convinced Phillip that flying the national colours of T&T was the best move he could ever make.
This was revealed at The Sport Desk Secondary School sport symposium titled No Pain, No Gain, held at the Cascadia Hotel and Conference Centre in St Ann’s, Port-of-Spain, earlier this week, when Phillip responded to a question from the audience on the best advice he ever got.
Phillip said, “I had a big situation before the Olympics. I was very frustrated with the planning and the organisation (in T&T). We sat down and we had a conversation about me switching to the US (cycling team). I live in the US and I train with the US national team.
“He (Ato) said I should stay, even though it’s tough. He said, ‘Your people are going to love you forever’. That really stuck in my heart. I listened to him, because I’m here today. That was the best advice I ever got.”
Now more than ever, he is focused on doing his part to develop cycling in T&T, having declared that the future of the sport in this country was bright. Phillip described the talent in T&T as “tremendous,” starting with the BMX bicycle competitors up to the juniors.
“Right now, we have about three juniors who are super good. They came off from Pan Am last year. They were able to get that first gold medal at the Pan Am Championships. We have a lot of talent.
“What happens with cycling is that a lot of people get turned off by the age of 18, because like I said, it’s a very expensive sport. For families to support a child with the best equipment for cycling is really, really hard. I think now, the Government is trying to support cycling a lot more. Hopefully we can get deals and get bikes sponsored.”
The interactive question-and-answer segment between Phillip and his teen fans was revealing.
When asked to relive the moments in his final race in his quest of winning an Olympic bronze medal in the men’s sprint event, he said, “Before that final race at the Olympics, I was humming the sweet soca music. I was listening to the beat, the lyrics, thinking about Carnival…jamming up.
“In the last race I messed up. I started to think about the medal and I stopped having fun. All the other times I was having fun. That mistake won’t happen again.”
If Phillip had the power to change things in this country’s sporting fraternity, athletes would be quite a happy bunch, as he would ensure that all recognised disciplines be brought on par with track and field.
“Normally, when we go to the Olympics all we hear about is track and field. We have stadiums everywhere. I think track and field is fully developed—I’m sure there are parts that are missing—but I would try to boast all the other sports to try and gain higher contention at all the other games in the world.”
If Phillip thought his role at the symposium was simply to share his life story as an athlete, field as couple questions and retire, he was wrong.
Teens in attendance had lots of questions and Phillip, in their eyes, seemed the most qualified to answer since he was a member of that age group almost four years ago.
From experience, he said, procrastinating will only make living life more complicated than it needed to be. In his view, teens don’t usually focus on their goals and this he said was a practice that needed to change. He urged them to start thinking about their futures and not just focus on the present.