Michelle Alleyne-Pennie raises the coaching bar

ATHLETICS has been a long-time passion for Michelle Alleyne-Pennie. So much so that she would sometimes trek all the way to Port of Spain from Mahaica, Point Fortin for training as a child.

But while she enjoyed competing, she also wished to contribute to sports in different ways – as a coach, technical officiator and administrator.

She now boasts a bachelor’s degree in sport for development and master’s in sport administration from the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and is a senior programme co-ordinator at the Sport Company (SporTT), as well as a jumps coach for junior athletes.

“I am a serious advocate for sports for development, and I will do everything in my power for that to work," she told WMN.

She recalled her interest sparking while attending the Point Fortin RC Primary School.

She joined the Point Fortin Civic Centre Jets and started off with running, under the guidance of coach Lawrence St Hillaire.

“I took part in the 200-metre and 400-metre (races), long jump and high jump."

She said she eventually “boiled down” to just the high jump, in which she held a national record for almost two decades.

"I literally grew up in and spent all my life in sports.”

As most athletes would say, there is a lot of sacrifice that comes with the title.

For her, one of those was the distance she would have to venture at times.

“While I was attending Holy Faith Convent in Penal, I would go to school with my bag, spend the weekend in town (Port of Spain), train at the national stadium (Hasely Crawford Stadium) and head back down Sunday evening to go to school Monday-Thursday and then go training Monday-Thursday at Point Fortin and Civic Centre Jets.”

She recalled falling asleep during the long taxi rides.

“You know when sometimes people have to wake you up and tell you that you reach (your destination)? Yeah.”

As an athlete, she competed in the Carifta Games and other regional meets as well as the World Games.

“At Carifta, I have gold, silver and bronze medals in the long jump. And at all the regional meets, as a junior, I competed in the open categories."

She said at 16, she jumped 1.81m.

"...And when you look at what's going on now in the world, (that) probably takes you to higher-level regional meets as well. So at that age and at that time, that was apparently phenomenal.”

From athlete to advocate

But she stopped competing in her late teens when she realised she wanted to help develop athletes.

“I went into technical officiating in track and field, and then I went into coaching.”

She said part of the inspiration behind this shift in direction came from observing and experiencing the challenges field events and their athletes faced at the time.

“Back in those days, field events really struggled. So I think the attention from maybe the federation at that time really wasn't there.

“Track events, more so the short sprints – that took precedence and they paid more attention to that.

So at times, you got selected to go; you qualified by means of what standard they had to qualify, but they gave you all sorts of excuses as to why you shouldn't go. You're too young, you're too this, you're too the other..."

She did not like seeing athletes struggle, especially girls. She said young athletes need “all sorts of assistance and support.

“So I've always advocated for supporting athletes.”

She began as a coach at the Point Fortin Civic Centre Jets, eventually moving on to coaching in schools under the Sport Ministry.

“And that took things to a whole new level because there I discovered that (people) want (sport) programmes in schools, you want youth to progress, you want sports, and there's nothing going on in the schools…”

While there are physical education teachers, she said they are not always coaches.

She explained there is an element of selflessness that comes with being a coach.

“Even in my early coaching days, I would take money out of my pocket to give athletes who were either hungry or couldn't get home because they had no money. And they're talented athletes. And you can lose them because they can't get to training or they're hungry or tired and things like that…

“It was also done for me. My first coach, he was from Port of Spain. He came all the way down to Point Fortin to talk to my parents.to get permission to train me.”

She is a World Athletics level five jumps coach and youth development coach. She also currently oversees the sports in schools programme.

She said TT is full of sporting talent, but the aim should be to harness and promote that.

“The approach to sports has to be adjusted in the (school) curriculum. Then we have to educate the teachers as coaches so that they could implement it in their schools and then we go from there…But it's going to take (time) and a lot of understanding from all the stakeholders for us to get there.

“We are already behind. We can do much better than we are doing here. We have the talent. But then to harness that talent and to bring them to the forefront is a story by itself.”

She said she mainly works with vertical jumpers but is also involved with horizontal ones.

'Trust the process'

She was jumps coach for TT’s team in the recently-concluded 2025 Carifta Games.

TT won 25 medals in total. Tenique Vincent won gold in the girls’ open heptathlon, while her twin brother Tyrique got gold in the boys’ under-20 decathlon.

Keneisha Shelbourne copped gold in the girls’ under-20 triple jump and Gianna Paul got gold in the girls under-20 long jump.

Janae De Gannes got silver in the girls’ under-20 long jump and Michal Paul, bronze in the boys’ under-17 long jump.

Alleyne-Pennie said she worked closely with the Vincent twins for both long jump and high jump.

In the long jump, Tyrique’s highest distance was 6.99 metres – the best distance of all ten competitors. In the high jump, he tied with Jamaica’s Jaquan Souden with a distance of 1.94m.

As for Tenique, her highest jump was 1.69m, also the highest among her competitors. And in the long jump, she tied with Guadeloupe’s Clementine Carias with 5.55m.

She said she and the other coaches were not shocked at the results.

“Because let me tell you, these athletes are all phenomenal athletes. We predicted those medals before they even came to the Carifta Games.

“All of them actually made the standard before they even finished all the events in that combined event. And by the times, the heights and the distances that they did, you know, even from last year, we knew that they were on par to win a medal and more so the gold.”

She said the athletes she trains have a lot of respect for her, some even likening her to family and calling her “Aunty Pennie” as opposed to “coach.”

Asked to describe her approach to coaching, she said she enjoys helping athletes “understand the process rather than just the outcome.

“The outcome that will always be there. But if the process isn't as it should be, then the outcome will always fall apart. So they will always hear me say, ‘Trust the process.’”

She has guided athletes to other Carifta Games medals, as well as medals at NACAC Games and World Juniors, among others.

While medals are always the main objective, she said seeing athletes achieve personal bests is also a great feeling.

“A medal is good and it's always the outcome we're looking for. But seeing everything come together, all that training come together and seeing that look on their faces when they achieve their personal best and yes, getting that medal – that is a nice, good highlight to me.

“Other coaches usually laugh at me because sometimes I shed a little tear, too. But that is my happiest moment.

Having athletes trust their coach and achieve. They really trust me and I appreciate that.”

But she said coaches only play a small role in an athlete’s success.

“They still do all the work. We just have to make sure they do it, but they do all the work.

“They have to decide to come here every day, in the hot sun, in the rain sometimes, get hurt sometimes...We have athletes from Toco as well who come here to train and then have to find their way home or travel or have parents waiting for them. But they put in the work.”

She reiterated, “We (coaches) are a small part of the whole picture."