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IF THERE was an award for academic achievement by a student-athlete, Jamaica College (JC) phenom, J’Voughnn Blake, would be a prime candidate to win.
Remarkably, in a season where he was a bronze medallist in the Boys and Girls’ Championships Class One 800 metres in a notable time, Blake aced his CAPE exams, scoring five grade one passes and one grade two.
His secret? He is driven to succeed.
Blake got grade one passes in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science, and a solitary grade two in communication studies.
In the same school year, he lowered his 800-metre personal best to one minute, 48.86 seconds to take the bronze at Champs.
Asked during a break from training about how he managed the double feat, the erudite Blake sighed and said: “I have no idea. I think if anybody wants to really do it and if anybody is as driven as I am, then it should be easy.”
Even though JC’s middle distance coach, Dwayne Johnson, has been acquainted with the 18-year-old since he discovered the lad’s athletic potential at the school’s Sports Day in 2014, he is amazed by Blake’s prowess.
YOU CAN ACHIEVE BOTH
“When he came to JC and he looked at the board and saw all the different scholars and he said ‘I want my name up here’, he figured track and field would stop him from doing it. But I explained to him that if you have good time management, you will be able to achieve at both,” Johnson said, retelling their earliest conversation.
“In my wildest dreams,” Johnson marvelled, “I never would have imagined a kid going through school with a 4.0 GPA, all ‘A’s doing CSEC, 15 subjects all grade ones, coming to the CAPE level, doing six subjects, getting five ones and one two.
“Now, this is a guy that never misses training. He’s here every single day, working hard and yet still he’s able to achieve that. He’s phenomenal, he’s phenomenal.”
According to JC’s head coach, Neil Harrison, it is no wonder Blake is team captain.
“He has what you call the intrinsic motivation and he just works hard,” Harrison reported. “He’s never had a team meeting and school is not made mention. Generally, you’d hear him say that ‘we are students first and athletes after’ and that speaks volumes.”
Understandably, the bright spark from Waterhouse has several scholarship offers, but he is not sure yet where he will go after his last year of high school eligibility.
“It’s a really hard decision to make so far,” the 2018 Carifta Under-17 800-metre silver medallist posited.
Even so, his outlook is bright.
“I haven’t set any fixed goals for myself, but I really intend to get the best out of it as I can. I’m just willing to carry it as far as it can take me with everything being awesome.”
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