Episode 7 Queen's Baton Relay

With an active track and field programme on the island

Seven months ago an epic journey began.

From Buckingham Palace, the Queen's Baton Relay set out

on a voyage around the Commonwealth. To visit 70 nations and territories

in the build-up to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.

Adventurer Mark Beaumont is following the baton.

This is an incredible scene! With the games less than three months away,

he will meet the athletes preparing to compete.

The Commonwealth Games are the pinnacle of my career.

And find out how sport is inspiring a young generation.

I want to become the world's fastest man.

And meet the people and diverse communities who are a part of it.

All connected by the Queen's Baton Relay.

This leg of the baton's journey takes it to the Caribbean.

Home to some of the most beautiful places on the planet.

Trinidad Tobago's tropical weather and beautiful beaches might

be perfect for relaxing, but its athletes have huge ambition.

19-year-old Keshorn Walcott became the youngest ever javelin thrower

to win gold in the history of the Games.

The unexpected win captured the nation's imagination

and also sparked the ambition in one young man, Shakiel Waithe.

Since London the interest has skyrocketed, everybody wants to

do field events, most people want to do javelin.

Shakiel's natural talent was spotted and he was put on an intensive

training programme for young athletes in Trinidad.

You don't need to motivate him. If training is on Christmas Day,

he's coming, I love to work with athletes like that.

He just want to do good. He just want to succeed.

Just, the basics are stay back, pivot, stay back on the right line.

Keep your arm all the way back. That's all. Let's see.

And pull this left arm here, and chuck.

That was a foul! Didn't even stick in!

That was... Pretty bad. Yeah. Pretty bad.

You need to do more co-ordination exercises.

Shakiel will be accompanying his idol, Keshorn, to the

And Shakiel isn't the only one with big dreams.

We are qualified and our first victim is going to be

Who have qualified. It is a big achievement for anyone.

You actually carry your country, the team spirit with you.

When you leave here it is not all about you any more,

After a brief stop in St Vincent and the Grenadines

Where an after school programme for youngsters

is making the most of their talent on the field and in the classroom.

I really enjoy running and when I run I feel happy.

The club is very fun, it gives you physical fitness.

For over a decade now, Rockets Athletics club

has been getting young athletes to change their approach to sports.

In the past many athletes were gifted

and their academics suffered and we are trying to change that

dynamic so they must balance academics and sport.

The cost of higher education can put it out of reach for many

young people on the island. So for them getting a sport

scholarship to a university abroad can be a life-changing opportunity.

I hope to get a track scholarship for me to go to school

to study architecture and start building houses,

open my business in my country and build a house for my mom.

While the scholarship might be a way of accessing education for some,

the club encourages its athletes to have big sporting ambition as well.

Do you have any dreams for the future for running?

I want to go to the Olympics to run against other people

I want to become the world's fastest man!

With St Lucia set to host the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2017

And I believe after these games in 2017 we will probably see

athletes really vying for the highest podium

because now they understand what it is to feel that energy.

It will make our country much bigger as it is a small

dot on the map and I just want to make my country proud

for a 14 year old like me just to make my country and myself be proud.

From St Lucia, the baton continues to Dominica,

then Antigua and Barbuda before going to the island of Montserrat.

But the island was harbouring a dark side.

Avalanches of gas and molten rock rolled down the slopes

Everyone had to move to the other end of the island.

And that volcano is still active, I can smell the sulphur.

This was home up until December 1996 and we had to leave. Leave quickly?

Had to leave quickly. Everybody left in the middle of the night.

I have something for memories, some people lost everything.

With the country devastated, more than half of the population

had a huge impact on everything, including sport.

With an active track and field programme on the island

these athletes will be Montserrat's only hope for medals in Glasgow.

We train on a few hundred metre track, grass track and sometimes

because like at Christmas they have an annual festival,

is to keep sporting talent here on the island.

When we think we have an individual and we say

"OK, in the next two years you will be at this point,"

because of family or school they migrate

so quite a few times you actually start over.

It is kind of bad and still kind of good in a way.

Because without the volcanic eruption I wouldn't know

but if it was still the same then we would have more people

But we're trying our best, we're doing our thing.

For Lester, sporting success is of huge

significance for both his island and family.

What keeps you going, year after year?

Well, basically it is just that I like competing

and I like putting Montserrat on the map and I would like to be out there

like Usain Bolt or one of them big athletes and making money

so when I die then my children are safe.

From Montserrat to the twin islands of St Kitts and Nevis.

The old train line that used to carry the island's

sugar to the port now takes tourists to see the sights.

On an island where cricket and football are popular,

Playing table tennis for St Kitts, it's an honour and an opportunity

I'm very excited, I get to meet others, different techniques,

different style of playing, so I will be able to learn more.

giving them a chance to train and also make that possibility

of them being able to step up ahead of how we used to play before

and now enter into a tournament like this.

achievement in sports is seen as a stepping stone to success.

Sports - there are many opportunities, like scholarships,

getting the opportunity to go to a university

One of the things that we look forward to,

everybody would like to get some sort of scholarship

to go abroad and to play, that would be good.

The key is for us, as an association, to find ways

and to create ways in terms of increasing their skills,

cos we know they can improve even better if they get the opportunity

although not featured in this year's Commonwealth Games,

is opening doors to a world of opportunities.

Tennis for me would be a gateway to college, it's an opportunity

to get a college scholarship. And the harder I train,

the better I become, the more likely I will be to get one.

If I progress in this programme and hopefully get a scholarship,

I can go pretty much anywhere, I can explore the world.

Most of the children would love to go to school

to acquire a higher education, but they are limited

in the fact that their parents may not have the financial resources

to do so, so what we have found out is that using sports as a vehicle,

that coupled with their academic background, will give these students

the opportunity to realise their dream of going to higher education.

Got to give yourselves room! Give yourself room to hit, OK?

Having studied in the US on a tennis scholarship,

Mitch returned to Anguilla to set up a summer camp

That court looks like it's seen better days.

Indeed it has. This is where you started?

Everything started right here. 19 years ago, in 1996,

the Anguilla tennis academy was created right here.

We had about 35 children and three rackets.

And what was amazing about the programme that year,

waiting for a turn just to hit the ball.

And when you finished, you would pass the racket down.

So I thought, these children have a unique discipline,

and that is what inspired me most to really carry on this programme.

Following in Mitch's footsteps is Tamisha Richardson.

she is aiming for a tennis scholarship in the US

and be able to come back and work as a physiotherapist,

and even have my own clinic or academy one day

I want us to show that Anguilla, although we're small,

that we have talent, we have people that could do great things.

As successful athletes come back to their home countries,

they are powerful role models to a whole new generation.

There's a similar success story in the British Virgin Islands.

Karene King is one of the country's best sprinters.

She was inspired to take up sprinting when she was at school.

When we first started, Ms Tayesha Harrigan was our number one sprinter.

and I always wanted to be somewhat like her -

and I want to be a good role model for someone else.

Having recently returned home from a US scholarship,

Karene also helps coach young athletes.

Well, it makes us feel that if she can accomplish her goals,

we can do it too, it motivates us to do our best.

I think it's been a great help because it encourages us

can come from nothing to where I am now,

they have seen me and I feel like they work harder

because they're like, "We can one time get there."

While many of these athletes aspire to a sport scholarship,

going abroad can also give them other advantages.

for us to really excel, we have to get out

Here, we are competing against the same people week in, week out.

When you get outside and you're competing against thousands

of schools, it's a very big difference.

Accompanying Karene to Glasgow this year is squash player Joe Chapman.

Like many others, Joe studied in a university in the US.

It's fantastic, because of our proximity to the US,

and the US place a lot of importance on sports

so the universities give a lot of scholarships, a lot of opportunities.

Joe was just 15 years old when he first represented

the British Virgin Islands at the Commonwealth Games.

This will be his third time competing.

The Commonwealth Games are the pinnacle of my career.

Because they're once every four years, it's a smaller opportunity

to do well, you only have one chance there.

because it's recognised through all sports, through all generations.

It's important not to think about the other countries

and how big their populations and how big a pool they have to choose from,

rather to focus on yourself and figure out,

how can I as an individual get to that level?

I don't care how hard it is, I'm going to get there.

Nice. Don't think about putting it in there. Put it in there.

So far, on this leg of the relay, the Queen's baton has visited

10 countries in the Caribbean, from popular tourist destinations

Jamaica is home to some of the fastest athletes in the world.

World Champion Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce and Usain Bolt are a product

of an incredible plan that was put in place to nurture sprint stars

And to stop losing them to track scholarships in the States.

if it wasn't working, where we're not producing world beaters,

then a lot of person would say, "OK, I'm going overseas,"

but the fact we have athletes that have stayed,

it is working and they have seen that it's working,

a lot of these talented athletes have decided to stay home,

and they are working hard and there's a lot of motivation.

There's Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, myself,

so many persons who are doing very well,

so for them, they want to have that success, it's easier for them

to actually have world-class competitors training with.

put together the first training programme for athletes,

bringing cutting edge science to Jamaica.

Over the years, this approach to sprinting

there was a specialist college in sport,

but now we find more universities are getting the best coaches locally,

they're getting strong programmes, so athletes are seeing results

So, if they can get the same results here as they get overseas,

I made a decision, to stay here, train here,

because we have great training programmes here in Jamaica.

And I want to stay here to help develop my country.

With the world's best athletes as their role models,

young track stars are pushing themselves to go faster.

This worked for Yohan Blake, who at 23 became the second fastest man

in the world, beaten only by Usain Bolt.

they decided to stay and said "Look, it can work."

Everybody just keep on getting faster and faster.

If you look at Champs, each year, you have different athletes

This year, 18-year-old Javon Francis smashed Bolt's own 400m record

I said, "Oh, my God!" I was so excited.

I don't know what to do. I wanted to break a record at Champs.

To motivate me, to make me train hard.

You have Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Nesta Carter,

quite a few guys with good talent. I said to myself, I want to have

a good talent like these guys, you know.

I walk out... I just want to make a mark for myself.

What do you say to the teenagers coming through,

people like Darnell, Javon Francis, who you see at the track?

What I would say to those youngsters is just grow.

Take your time and grow. You're running fast,

just do what is necessary to keep running fast

and don't overwork, because it don't stop at the high school level.

You have to transcend over to the bigger guys,

Over there, real serious, real business take place

and to get to the top, that's where you have to be.

Unlike other Caribbean nations whose athletes might have to leave

their country to pursue higher education or sporting success,

Jamaica has established itself as a sprinting powerhouse

where athletes are becoming world champions

by training right here in their home country.

Join Mark next time as the baton continues on its epic journey

Across the continents, the athletes are gearing up.

I am willing to work as hard as I can to do well.

Pushing themselves to the limits for the Games in Glasgow.

It is extremely significant for our sport

as the Commonwealth Games are really near and dear

And all of them are brought together by the Queen's Baton Relay.

Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90 second update.

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