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| Athletics Weekly report on John Powell's shock announcement that he will retire as a coach in July. |
After 45 years in the sport, sprints coach John Powell is to retire, stating that his enthusiasm for the sport has been slowly sucked out of him by a system that is not fit for purpose.
As a coach who gained an international reputation for nurturing young talent to the highest echelons of the sport in the 1990's and the turn of the millennium, he feels his once insatiable desire to improve his athletes and progress as a coach has been repeatedly downtrodden by the sport's elitest policy.
Powell, who was awarded an MBE in 2013 for services to the sport, has been revered by some as the most accomplished 'development' coach British Athletics has seen in recent years.
Over the years he has taken athletes to every major international championship and major games on the calendar, but the success rate has dwindled in recent years.
Added to this has been ongoing work with his 'Met-Track' charity of which he is CEO. This has seen him recruit vulnerable young Londoners into grass roots sport, some of whom have ultimately emerged at international level - and he will continue with this role.
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| John Powell joins forces with the Met-Police Commissioner and Lord Sebastian Coe at a presentation in London for his Met-Track charity |
"I've always been incredibly passionate, ambitious and determined in all that I do," he explains, "and that certainly includes coaching. But my love for the sport has been drained out of me.
"I was lucky to have some really successful squads with some great athletes in the past, but time and again, either the vultures swoop, or somehow athletes are persuaded the grass is greener elsewhere. And then you watch them - in most cases - fail to improve or, in some cases, slow right down!
"That triggers a chain reaction in your group and you suddenly find you're starting all over again from scratch. The same happened a few years ago and I lost the bullk of my squad. Yet the people who inherit my athletes are anything but disciplined for unethical conduct, but frequently elevated to elite status and even rewarded with positions on national teams.
"In years gone by I was honoured to help out with several GB and England teams, but as soon as you're not producing athletes of interest to the powers that be, that seems to be the end of that.
"This is the hardest decision of my life and will represent a massive change, but the love I've had for a sport that has been a part of who I am since the age of 15 has slowly but surely been eroded."
Powell's CV involves building and managing arguably the most successful youth scheme of the last century at then Blackheath Harriers and he went on to create a national championship-winning junior side wth Belgrave Harriers.
He continued to join coaching staff at British junior and under-23 international level, and also helped England teams at several indoor internationals.
He held official positions such as secretary of the AAA track and field committee, director of coaching in Kent, was Vice-President of Blackheath Harriers until 1993 and President of Belgrave Harriers 2014-16.
He is also currently chair of the Crystal Palace Sports Partnership representing key stakeholders in the debate around the future of the national sports centre.
While critical of the athletics establishment, he also feels athletes above the "fun club level" have been made to expect "everything for nothing" and have become in some cases extremely selfish.
"You can't tar everyone with the same brush," he says, "but I continue to be aghast at how athletes expect you to be at their disposal night and day - and then moan if you dare to say 'no'.
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| John at a recent (and probably final) pre-season training venue in Clermont, Florida |
Over the last 20 years, the now retired Police Superintendent took out bank loans and remortgaged his house to ensure he could follow his athletes all over the globe. In the process he developed numerous international links, not least in the US where he was at one time a member of the voluntary coaching staff at Harvard University.
He has since nurtured links at University of Virginia, UCLA and University of Southern California among others.
"The level of respect, and status offered to coaches in the US is stratospheric compared to the UK, and British athletes could well do with taking a leaf out of their book in that respect," he continues.
"I would love to stay in the sport in some sort of role - administration, management, coach education or even officiating if something comes along," he concludes.
"But I am really disenchanted that, after all these years, for all my enthusiasm and experience, what I have to offer as a coach and experienced senior manager has been ignored to the point of ultimate decline and termination."
Powell's swan song will be in July when he takes his final coaching session at Crystal Palace before leaving on a family holiday.
