His love for track and field was the driving force behind Michael Frater’s decision to start his own track club.
Called TITANS International, the club already has one famous Jamaican athlete on its roster but Frater plans to recruit more athletes as the club finds its footing within the Jamaican landscape.
TITANS is the acronym for Training Intelligently Towards Athletes Natural Speed, he said, explaining that he intends to use the information garnered while being coached by Francis and then Glen Mills, two of the best in the world.
Francis has coached the likes of former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter as well as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson. Mills was the man behind the iconic exploits of Usain Bolt. He also coached Blake as well as Warren Weir.
“I think the experience that I have gathered competing at the highest level and then being under the tutelage of Stephen Francis and then Glen Mills; I don’t think many people in the world have had that experience, so I am just going to use the knowledge that I have gathered from these great gentlemen,” he said
Track has always been an integral part of Frater’s life, winning medals in high school in Jamaica at Jamaica’s Boys and Girls Championships and at high school and college in the United States of America.
“I grew up on track and field. It’s something I have always wanted to do,” Frater said in explaining why he started the club.
“I am not going to go away from track and field. I am always going to be involved in track and field in every aspect of it so the next step is actually having my own coaching group. So myself and Gregory Little; we formed a group and we are working with some athletes now, Yohan Blake being the top athlete that we have at the moment.
“So, it’s just about getting a good group of athletes together and building on that.”
Frater represented Jamaica for more than a decade at several Olympic Games and World Championships.
Under Coach Francis, Frater surprised many when he won a silver medal in the 100m final at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Three years later, he was a finalist in the 100m at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China where Usain Bolt set a world record of 9.69s.
In 2012, he was a key member of Jamaica’s 4x100m team that won gold at the London Olympic Games in a world-record of 36.84, a time that made Jamaica the first team to run faster than 37 seconds in the sprint relay.
In June 2011, Frater ran a personal best time of 9.88 that made him the sixth fastest Jamaican male sprinter.
Following his retirement from track, Frater, 37, joined the coaching staff at St.Jago High School in 2019, paving the way for the formation of his own track club.