Commonwealth Games triple-jump champion makes Hercules Wimbledon AC visit

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club were this week treated to a triple-jumping masterclass as Commonwealth champion Shanieka Ricketts visited their Wimbledon Park track, writes George Mallett.

Young athletes in Paul Miller’s elite sprints group were led on a series of drills, and a conversation with the Jamaican athlete who has had a glittering 2022, alongside her coach and husband Kerrylee Ricketts.

Shanieka won World Championship silver in July before breaking the championship record in her recent Commonwealth Games success in Birmingham.

The Ricketts are long-time friends of Miller and have been visitors on a number of occasions to the Hercules track.

The pair have hosted a number of Hercules athletes whenever a group of Miller’s athletes visit for warm-weather training in Jamaica.

“I feel like we are part of the Hercules family’, says Shanieka. “We follow what everyone in the club is doing. It is a mutual relationship where we just gel – and I get treated like royalty whenever I am here!”

The relationship stretches back to when Kerrylee was an estate agent in London and Miller was in the property business.

Both men went their separate ways, Kerrylee returning to Jamaica and Miller taking up coaching, most notably to his two international sprinter sons, Chad and Rechmial.

On a trip to Jamaica many years later, with Miller trying to gain access to the Usain Bolt track for two of his sprinters, who else would appear at the gates than Kerrylee himself.

Kerrylee had some wise words for Hercules’ next generation.

“Everyone is on their own journey, so don’t be comparing yourselves to other people, because everyone develops differently,” he said. “Do the hard work, set your own achievable goals, and you can accomplish great things.”

Shanieka emphasised resilience as a major foundation to her success.

She said: “Failure is a part of life – you can’t prevent it. It doesn’t matter what you do in life you will fail sometimes, so you just have to embrace it, feel it, let it burn and then move forward.

“If you dwell on it too long, it will consume you and you can’t afford that in this sport, because you will always have injuries, challenges and setbacks, and you might win a medal one year, but it doesn’t get easier the next year. You have to put in the same work, maybe more, because so many other factors can come into play.”