Blackwood switches gears to coaching

Six years ago, Jodi-Rae Blackwood was a Boys' Championships winner for Munro College. Now with injuries halting his career on the track, Blackwood is trying his hand at coaching. He was an interested observer at last Saturday's Jamaica College-Purewater meet and said Munro has a lot of talent.

In 2010, Blackwood finished powerfully to upset D'wayne Extol of Wolmers' Boys to win the 400 metre hurdles. His next step took him to the University of Nebraska where he lowered his personal best from the 51.56 seconds that won him the Champs gold medal, to 50.16.

However, injuries have forced him off the track.

"I'm a retired athlete now because I had to a surgery to do a heel spur and a year later, I had the same problem in the next foot."

HEELSPURS

Heel spurs are calcium deposits which cause bony protrusions on the underside of the heel bone, are especially common among athletes whose activities include large amounts of running and jumping.

When doctors told him that the second surgery was critical, he made a career-ending choice.

"I decided not to because of how hard it was recovering from the last one," he recalled.

"My left foot was not even 90 per cent back yet when he said I need to do the right foot."

Blackwood is resolved about his decision.

"There is something in track and field for everybody and at this moment, I'm deciding to go towards coaching," he said. He is working as a volunteer coach at Munro College until Champs and thinks the 2016 team will do well.

"We have a lot of talent here at Munro. Once they get their mental together, we are going to go back into the top 10," he said.