Trinidad and Tobago 400m hurdler, Jehue Gordon has urged the nation’s cricketers to chase their dreams and inspire future generations of players with their achievements on the field of play.
The 2013 World Championships gold medalist was speaking after training with the Trinidad and Tobago Red Force team at the National Cricket Centre, Balmain, Couva who are preparing for the Digicel SportsMax 4-Day Professional Cricket League.
“I was really inspired by the guys and what I would tell them is not to chase the money but chase the dream. We all grew up and fell in love with cricket or in my case watching track and field and seeing people go on to do incredible things in the sport and that is what we fell in love with,” said Gordon.
He continued, “This is what inspired us to become athletes and not the situation when you know guys are running down a lot of women, spending a lot of money on fast cars and fancy clothes. Those things are just temporary and when it is not there the motivation is definitely not going to be the same…so just chase the dream.”
The Olympian revealed that he is cricket fanatic who follows the fortunes of the West Indies and Red Force at home or overseas competing at international events.
“I am a big fan of cricket and whenever I get time I attend matches. The last match I attended was for the CPL before I left for the Olympics. I follow West Indies and Trinidad and Tobago cricket and I always pay attention to the news to see how the West Indies or Red Force are doing,” said the former Queen’s Royal College student.
Commenting on training with the Red Force, Gordon said, “What I enjoyed the most was the fielding part of the session. There were a couple drops and misfields but that was part of it and is something that happens in life. In life you go through ups and downs and you just need to get up and keep working. I enjoyed the fielding session…the running, the jumping, the throwing, keeping your eyes on the ball and angling your body in a certain position. It was stuff that I forgot over the years.”
He added, “Seeing the guys and seeing how easy they made things look..that’s just the years of experience. For me who came out of the cricket lifestyle at the age of 12 or 13 to come back into it today was a bit nerve wracking at some point. The part of it I dreaded the most was the part they started with which was the high catching. That was something I hated when I was captaining at Harvard so to come out here and to get a feel of it again was special. It was great coming to the NCC and having the fellas cheer me on to catch and put some effort to keep pushing..it was a great feeling to feel that spirit with the team.”
