SCOTTISH Athletics head coach Rodger Harkins believes throwing some of his young guns in at the deep end at last weekend's Sainsbury's International in Glasgow has demonstrated they have the toughness required to swim, rather than sink, in greater challenges ahead.
With UK Athletics performance director Neil Black urging the sport's best prospects to leave the Commonwealth Games behind and to show serious intent for the months and years ahead, a number of teenage Scots held up their hands as potential recruits for this year's European Under-20 Championships, as well as putting themselves on the radar as ones to watch on the road to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
"I was really impressed with the kids," declared Harkins. "Cameron Tindle's run a personal best under pressure. Kelsey Stewart ran a great last leg of the relay. And what I liked was that she was comfortable doing the last leg. There's a lot of people, especially these hungry kids, who missed out on the Commonwealth Games. This has been a first opportunity for them to lay down a marker, to say I want to be part of this.
"Adjusting to a crowd is something everyone has to learn. It's really unfortunate when an athlete gets selected for a major championship and the whole thing fazes them. That's what happened to a couple of people at the Commonwealths. So the more we can expose athletes to the pressure of a big crowd, the better."
Foremost in Harkins' thoughts was the 16-year-old Tindle whose Scotland debut attracted a wave of publicity that threatens to anoint him as Usain Bolt's natural successor with only one major outing to his name. Let's give him time, Lee McConnell's long-time coach advised, with the victims of teen burnout littered through out the sport.
"I'm really conscious that I don't want to put pressure on him," Harkins said. "Because we did that on another young sprinter - Tom Holligan - three or four years ago, and it was maybe too much. Cameron's obviously got a big talent and we want to nurture it. We need to be careful we don't stick too much on his shoulders. But he coped with Saturday really admirably."
Black, meanwhile, has heaped praise on Harkins' predecessor Stephen Maguire for picking up the baton with the UK's top sprinters in the wake of the chaotic departure of lead coach Rana Reider. With Lynsey Sharp among those who were overseen by the American at the sport's base in Loughborough, his exit has left others to seek new advisors with world indoor champion Richard Kilty making a move to work in London under Linford Christie.
"When change comes about," said Black, "you have to re-group and we're in the process of doing that. We've managed things well. We're putting things in place. Stephen Maguire's done a brilliant job of managing and coordinating but we're optimistic for the future. But we're not fools. It's a tough job."
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