Omar Hawse

Hawse, who has been coaching for more than 15 years, made the pronouncement at the launch of Jamaica’s newest track club earlier today.

Legacy was formed by Calabar High School with its leaders being part of the school’s hierarchy. Karl B Johnson, board chairman at Calabar is the club’s chairman while Principal Albert Corcho is a director.

The club boasts the likes of 2011 World Championship silver medalist Jura Levy, Deuce Carter, and Roneisha McGregor as well as a cadre of talented athletes on the rise including Dejour Russell, Crystal Morrison, Michael Bentley, Tyreke Wilson, Anthony Carpenter, Amoi Brown and Michael O’Hara.

“Our organization has been blessed with a group of athletes that – when I did my research – not even the three leading clubs in Jamaica, has got a chance to start with such a great group of athletes,”  Hawse said.

“We are indeed blessed at Legacy.”

Hawse said he and the other coaches at the club, Ynick Morrison, Nicholas Neufville and Craig Sewell, are committed to helping each of these athletes achieve their maximum potential.

“As coaches, we continue to improve on our craft and give each and every athlete the attention needed to be at their best and to attain their best in representing their country, family and friends,” he said.

“We are doing our best to help them realize their dreams by paying keen attention to each and every aspect of their physical, emotional and psychological development.”

Legacy also intends to do more; much more, according to its President and CEO Andrea Hardware, who announced that Legacy will also offer athlete representation as well as personal professional development.

“Permit me to say two sentences about our personal development portfolio. Included in the portfolio are interventions to address the formal education of all of our clients through scholarships,” she said.

“The development of their mental fortitude, tools to help them make better choices about their nutrition and lifestyle as sportsmen and women and building their individual brands for sustainability. Our intention is to be very deliberate in helping our clients achieve success and to begin to think beyond their playing days.

“In fact, research has revealed that people like Usain Bolt and Michael Jordan are making more money now than they were while they were playing.”

The club’s website says Legacy Athletics believes that Jamaica has too rich a sporting heritage to squander and aims to be a conduit and to provide a framework for young women and men bestowed with special athletic talent to attain their highest potential.

“In so doing we will be playing our part in minimizing the number of young persons who fall through the cracks of our traditional educational and socio-economic systems,” it said.

The body of the 38-year-old jumps coach, and that of an unidentified woman, was found in an empty lot at West Trade Way in Portmore, St Catherine shortly before 7 am, police said.

The news has plunged the entire Calabar High School community into a state of despair.

"The entire Calabar and Legacy family is deeply saddened by the untimely and tragic passing of our beloved coach, brother and friend," said Calabar team manager Andrea Hardware, who is also President and CEO of Legacy Track Club.

"The passion he had for coaching and the belief in the abilities of his charges knew no bounds.  We are grieving! It is raw and only time will heal our hearts. May his soul rest in peace."

According to the Legacy Track Club’s website, Neufville, also known as 'Soapman' is a Calabar High school alumnus who represented the school at the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships. He was also a national representative both at junior and senior levels.

 A World Athletics certified Level II coach in the sprints and jumps, he also served as a member of the coaching staff at Calabar High where he is currently coaching junior athletes such as long jumper Jordan Turner and triple jumper Luke Brown both of whom have been national junior representatives, the website said.

Over the course of his coaching career, Neufville helped condition some of Jamaica’s top junior sprinters including Christopher Taylor, Oblique Seville, Dejour Russell and Michael O’Hara.

He has also been a member of the national coaching staff for the following games for the 2011 CARIFTA games in the Cayman Islands, the 2018 CAC Senior games in Columbia and 2019 under 20 Pan American Games in Costa Rica.

Big things were expected from O’Hara who was the World U18 200m champion in 2013 and who also excelled at the 100m, 110m hurdles and even the 400m.

His 10.19 and 20.45 personal bests over the 100m and 200m, respectively, hinted at what was possible once he matured under the experienced handling of Coach Glen Mills.

“Michael is one of the world's top young sprinters. He is a World Youth Champion and multiple Jamaican Champion. Under the coaching guidance of Glen Mills I am confident that he has a very bright future," said his agent Ricky Simms.

Unfortunately, things have not gone as planned with the talented athlete struggling to make the successful transition that so many had expected of him.

Four years later, he returned to his high school coach Craig Sewell and began to make headway in the sprint hurdles, one of the three events at which he excelled in high school. Now, a member of the newly formed Legacy Track Club at his old high school, O’Hara believes he is finally ready to live up to his immense potential.

In a recent interview with Sportsmax.TV, O’Hara, now 24, believes he has learned the lessons necessary for him to finally make the next step.

“Back then I had to learn the sport better and to learn what the transition is and what it takes; to accept the fact that there might be downfalls, to accept the fact that there might be mistakes and during the time we have to fall down and get back up,” he said.

“Now, I am more focused and understanding of what it takes to be a professional athlete and what it takes to get where I want to be.”

Head Coach at Legacy Omar Hawse tells Sportsmax.TV that the signs are there that this not just talk from the former high school star. Since he has returned to Calabar and training with his former coaches, O’Hara has been a different athlete.

“He has been putting in some good work. He is more focused, he seems to be very hungry, takes instructions better and seems eager to get to his best,” Hawse said. “Let us hope it can continue.”

The early signs of improvement were there in 2019 when after returning to the sprint hurdles, his former coach Glen Mills admitted that O’Hara seemed to have found his niche. The 13.61 he ran in Loughborough was an indicator that things were moving in the right direction and put him in line to qualify for the 2019 World Championships in Doha.

After qualifying for the finals of the sprint hurdles at Jamaica’s national championships in 2019, OHara fell and was denied a place on the team to Doha. Notwithstanding that disappointment, OHara feels like things are finally falling into place for him to move forward.

“It’s a good welcome home for me. The coaches are not unfamiliar so my mind is in a good place,” he said. “I am very good to be where I am right now. Working with Sewell again has been rejuvenating because he was there in high school with me. The chemistry was there in high school and there is no unfamiliar chemistry now that I am back with him.”

Sewell said the focus is now on getting Michael physically ready for whatever event he chooses to do.

“We are preparing him for anything that he could do well in if it’s the hurdles, the 100 or 200,” he said. “That’s the plan going forward for him. I don’t think he has any preference at this point, he is just preparing for all, being more technical at all so when we are ready to make that decision, it will come down to what’s best at that time.”

Along the way, OHara has come in for much criticism from an expectant public, disappointed in his lack of progress. He says he is used to that and chooses to use those negatives in a more positive manner.

“Criticism is nothing new coming from high school to now. I take them as motivation for me. I always train like I have something to prove. This is my drive; that is what gives me my push to go forward,” he said.