The rise to the top of international javelin competition by Grenadian Anderson Peters has also brought the name “Paul Phillip” to the forefront. Coach Paul Phillip is recognized as the man behind Anderson’s triumph. His is a remarkable story in itself: of a man who beat very, very, long odds to make a world champion.
Thus, I did not refuse when I was recently invited to sit down for dinner with Coach Phillip. His wife and members of St. David Track Blazers Executive were also present. So too was West Indies cricketer, Andre Fletcher and Antoinette Peters, the mother of Anderson.
The first thing that struck me about Coach Phillip is how humble and respectful he is. The term “Sir” regularly comes from his mouth. The extended first impression is also of a reserved, almost withdrawn individual.
But, once the conversation moved to his pet subject of throwing the javelin, the apparent withdrawn exterior dissolves. It transforms into the personality of a man of great passion. A man of deep self-belief, bordering on arrogance. A man of tremendous ambition and solid intellect. All housed in a six feet tall, strong but lean frame.
Background
“Coach”, as he is called by his charges, was born in the rural village of Corinth, St. David’s. He attended the Corinth Primary School, the same primary school as his now marquee athlete. At the age of 14, he moved onto St. David Catholic Secondary School (SDCSS) from where he graduated in 1994.
Coach is from a nuclear family of six; mother, father and four kids. But there was also an extended family of grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
“I am the first and only person in my family who went into sports”, Coach says. A bit of a surprise for one coming from Corinth.
On further drilling, it becomes understandable why sports were not high priority in the home of Coach’s childhood. His parents had to spend all the hours of the day and some of the night to make ends meet. Coach’s father worked as a construction worker and auto mechanic. His Mom worked at a restaurant.
In 1980, Coach’s parents moved to oil booming Trinidad in search of opportunities. His mother would only return to Grenada when Coach was 14 years old, a circumstance that partly explains his relatively late entry into secondary school.
The next Muhammad Ali
As the first member of his family to get into sports, Coach first tried cricket. He wanted to be a fast bowler. But because of his lack of pedigree the opportunities were few. “Those guys who came from sporting families got the preference”, Coach recalls.
The lack of opportunities in team sports instilled a desire for an individual sport. He wanted to try boxing. “My Dad heard about me and boxing. He got scared and intervened. And that was the end of my dream of being the next Muhammad Ali,” Coach relates with a chuckle.
Finding the shot put
On moving to the SDCSS, Coach discovered the field part in track and field. “It happened in Form 3, in 1992”, he recalls. “Mr. Richard Jacques was a teacher at the school at the time. He sourced a shot put for the school. This big, heavy ball was initially an object of attraction”, Coach says with a mischievous smile. “But then I realised that, hell, I can throw this thing further than anyone else.” That was a revelation to Coach. Up until then he didn’t believe that he could do anything in athletics better than anyone else. “Before my chance meeting with the shot put, I liked athletics but it didn’t seem that athletics liked me. For some reason, I could not run as the other guys. But once I realised that I had a talent for the shot put it became my focus. I would throw every day. Soon I added the discus and my obsession with throwing was born”.
Intercol champion
Within two years, this focus on the throws would pay off. He was the 1994 Intercol Champion in both the shot put and the discus. His success at Intercol took him to the 1994 CARIFTA Games in Barbados. He didn’t medal, coming 4th in the discus and 5th in the shot put. Later in 1994, he attended the CAC Junior Games in Trinidad. He came 4th in both events.
“Trinidad was an important part in my journey”, Coach says. “Not for what happened in the competition but for what happened and did not happen after the competition”. He pauses at this point to gather his thoughts and choke back some emotion. Then he slowly recalls, “Within 12 months of the CAC Games in Trinidad all the persons who were in the shot put and discus finals, except Paul Phillip, obtained athletics scholarship to go onto university”. He paused once more for effect then says, “I know if I had come first and did some exceptional distance, I would have gotten a scholarship. I also know that if I was from one of the bigger islands, I would have gotten a scholarship. I desperately wanted to go to university and earn a degree.”
After the Trinidad experience, Coach made a vow to himself and to God: He would do whatever he could to ensure that, through sports, young boys and girls from his community would get the opportunity to obtain a university education.
Coaching
In 1994 Coach left school. On leaving school he was thrown into a sea of despair. He didn’t have the resources to go onto TAMCC. He didn’t have any special employable skills. He loved athletics but there was no real structure for him to continue. But, due to his love for athletics, in particular the throws, Coach decided to further his education in coaching. With this in mind, in 1994 he did the IAAF Level I course on offer right here in Grenada.
But that was not a good experience. He failed the course by one mark. He flew through the academic part of the course but, surprise, he failed the practical. Well not really a surprise. “Everyone knew that I was injured at the time of doing the course and hampered physically”, Coach asserts. “Based on my record, everyone knew that if I was fit I would fly through the practical aspect. My local people had the power to waive the full practical requirements because of my injury. They refused. They insisted I must do the full practical and they failed me by one mark” he laments, a tinged of grievance still detectable 25 years later.
Coach was given the option to do over the Level I Examination as soon as his fitness was restored. He refused. Instead he got into practical training and took on his first set of athletes which included Shamir Thomas. Thomas would become a multiple CARIFTA Champion in the shot put and discus.
But several years later, persuaded by Bobby Benjamin, then head of the Grenada Athletics Association, Coach would return to continue his coaching education. He would ultimately earn a Level III qualification in the throws and Level V in multi-events.
With his passion for coaching and technical skill, Coach trained several other CARIFTA Games champions. Among them were Keron Francis, Alleyne Lett, Coleen Felix, and Densley Joseph. All received athletics scholarships to go on to study in the US.
Drifter
But, for a long period, coaching was a side thing. After leaving school, for several years, Coach was a drifter with no fixed employment. He would get gigs at SDCSS as a physical education instructor cum handyman cum tuck-shop manager. He worked at the nearby mariner in Corinth painting boats. And he did other odd jobs to make ends meet.
Cuba and back
In 1999 Coach’s own opportunity to get a university education came. He received a scholarship to attend a university in Cuba to study Physical Education. However, he abandoned the course and returned home after one semester. “It was not the academics”, Coach volunteers. “I felt at sea in Cuba, without support. My biggest issue was food. I’m a vegetarian. But the school diet was loaded with meat. They did not provide for me. So I had to go for long periods without food since I had no money to get food from alternative sources”, he explains.
On his return to Grenada, there was annoyance in some athletics circles about Coach abandoning the Cuban opportunity. There were whispers of him having an attitude and not being a team player. Although he continued to do his thing, coaching athletes from St. David’s and around Grenada, he was not employed by the Government of Grenada as a coach. He felt blacklisted and he had to fall back on odd jobs, painting boats, working in the mariner and doing farming.
Anguillan Police Officer
Coach was frustrated by the lack of employment opportunities in the field of coaching. He decided to look for other opportunities. An opportunity arose in the field of law enforcement. In 2007 he went off to Anguilla to become a police officer.
Coach spent two years in Anguilla as a police officer. While in Anguilla he tried to continue coaching. But there was no motivation among kids in Anguilla to do track and field.
During his two years as a policeman in Anguilla, his mind remained on coaching kids in Grenada. “There was an inner voice calling me back to Grenada”, he says. The voice grew louder and louder and ultimately irresistible. He vividly remembers when he made the decision to return home. “I was doing traffic duty one morning. I had the speed gun. This car came speeding down. I placed the gun on it and the speed was excessive. I stopped the car. ‘Officer, please bear with me, I’m late. I have to drop my daughter off to school and get to the hospital’, the driver pleaded with me. I made out a Grenadian accent and then I recognized the face of a Grenadian nurse. I looked around and waved the lady on. With that the inner voice told me, ‘See, this police thing is not for you. You need to return home to do what you love’ ”.
Not long after that incident Coach resigned the job, packed his bag and returned to Grenada. He returned no knowing if he would find employment in Grenada. He returned to different jobs. He worked in pest control. He worked in construction. He did farming. And he experienced a massive cut in income compared to what he earned as a police officer in Anguilla.
Meeting Anderson Peters
To his colleagues at Saint David’s Track Blazers, the return of Coach was a blessing in disguise. Disguise or not, it was a blessing. Two years after returning to Grenada, Coach met Anderson Peters. Lindon Victor would join a year later, in 2012. Coach immediately recognized that in Anderson Peters he had found “a dream athlete”
By 2014, in a Carib update interview…
Coach was boldly, almost recklessly, proclaiming to the world that Anderson Peters will be Olympic Champion in the javelin. Now, in 2019, he believes that Anderson is on the way to becoming one of the greatest javelinist of all time. “Injury is the only thing that can stop Anderson”, Coach declares.
The gene for the javelin
Coach does not expect Anderson to be the first and last great javelinist from Grenada. He is convinced that there is a javelin gene that the Grenadian gene pool is blessed with. “I always heard about very good javelinists from Grenada. I heard of Eros Rapier who won Grenada’s first gold medal at CARIFTA Games. But it was in 2001 I recognized that there was something special for the javelin in the Grenadian gene pool”. 2001 was the year that Grenada won gold in each of the four divisions at CARIFTA Games. “With that background, you expected and dreamt that one day an Anderson would come along”, Coach says.
Now that Anderson has come, Coach has already raised his sight. “I would be very disappointed if we stop at Anderson”, he says. “I want Grenada to build a dynasty in javelin. I believe we can do it. We have it in our gene pool”. He pauses, smiles and says, “It is about spotting the talent and developing it.” He pauses again, as if he wants to say something more but is debating whether he should say it. He looks around and begins to speak again, as if about to leak a guarded secret: “People would be surprised to know”, he says slowly measuring his words, “but we have a kid in the club who is throwing one metre further than Anderson was throwing at the same age. I believe we already have another world class talent”.
As he speaks it is clear that while it is about the athletes, it is also about “Paul Phillip”, as he refers to himself several times. “I was an athlete. I went to CARIFTA Games. I didn’t achieve much on the field. I want to achieve a legacy through Anderson and others”, he declares.
Reconciliation with the athletics authorities
Since 2016, Coach Paul has reconciled fully with the athletics authorities in Grenada. He credits the advent of Charlie George to the leadership of the GAA for the improvement in his relationship with the Association.
However, things really started to look up for Coach in 2016. He was still unemployed by the time of CARIFTA Games. Then boom, on Sunday 26th March 2016, Anderson Peters took the place by storm breaking the CARIFTA Games record in front of his cheering home crowd.
With Anderson’s achievement and the knowledge that Coach was the force behind Anderson, his stocks rose. “I had several offers from several places. There were some very good offers in US dollars. Then I got an offer from the Ministry of Sports to be employed as an international track and field coach. I always wanted to be home, to coach at home, so it was easy for me”.
Talent & technique
Coach describes the javelin as an event that combines natural arm speed, great leg strength, explosiveness at the point of release and technique. He is massive on technique. And on equipment too. “Technique and equipment are what turns great natural talent into world class performers”, Coach says. He discloses that, “I study the art of javelining every day. I study technique, performance, mental conditioning, physical condition, every detail related to the art of the javelinist. In 25 years, I have amassed a reservoir of knowledge and experience which I want to pass on to my athletes and to young coaches”.
When talking technique of his ‘dream athlete’ he says, “Anderson still has to improve on his angle of release. He is only 22 years old. He has far to go. But he can’t and I won’t allow him to become complacent because there is serious competition out there”.
Coach identifies a young javelinist from India, Neeraj Chopra, as a person Anderson has to watch. Chopra had beaten Anderson at the World Youth Games and the Commonwealth Games. “And the East Europeans and the Germans are always there” Coach notes. “The Germans have the most advance equipment and system but”, he pauses and smiles, then says, “I have some secrets and tricks in the bag which can trump them, once we have good equipment”.
Equipment needed
Before the night was over, Coach would return to his theme of the need for equipment which he identifies as one of the most important ingredients for Grenada to continue producing outstanding javelinists. “God has given us the talent but we need the equipment to make that talent count on the world stage. Access to elite javelins was decisive for Anderson. But not everyone would have Anderson’s natural strength. We also need equipment to build the strength” he says, looking around the table for effect. Coach notes that some of the equipment would cost in the high thousands. “But to realise our talent we need them”, he restates emphatically. He identifies a reverse hyper machine and a belt squats as two of the most critical pieces of equipment needed as soon as yesterday. “These pieces of equipment are important for building strength; but they also important to prevent injury”, Coach says.
Coach acknowledges the contribution of Dr. Earle Brathwaite and PETNA Foundation to Anderson’s achievement. “The gold medal is evidence”, he says. “It’s there for all to see. My wish is that others in the private sector would emulate Dr. Brathwaite and PETNA and make substantial contributions towards equipment for javelinists. It is worth it”. All Grenada concur, ‘It is worth it!’
With that parting message a very enjoyable evening came to an end.
Joseph Ewart Layne
Joseph Ewart Layne is an author and graduate of Hugh Wooding Law School.