A Need For Speed: Inside Jamaica's Fast

In the Olympics, it is understood that Jamaica is known for producing the world’s fastest sprinters. This leaves people wondering what Jamaica does differently to generate these sprinters. After reading the article “A Need for Speed: Inside Jamaica’s Sprint Factory” and learning about systems perspective and biopsychosocial-spiritual influences on behavior, it is evident that there are multiple possible factors that could have contributed to the success of Jamaican sprinters. Biologically, Jamaicans have black ancestry which gives them an advantage since “they have long limbs [and] they have little subcutaneous fat”(CITATION). The longer the legs of a runner, the longer the strides that he or she can take. Nonetheless, the longer the strides means the less time it will take for the runner to cover more ground in the least amount of time. Also, having the least amount of …show more content…
In other words, spiritually, a person should be interconnected with the mind, body, and spirit. While being in a relaxed state, a runner’s mind and spirit can be more open and precise than a mind that is stressed and tensed. Once the mind is relaxed, then a runners muscles can even be relaxed. According to Johnson, “a relaxed sprinter maintains speed, while the sprinter who’s tight, who’s concentrating too much, can tire fast or lose it at the end” (CITATION). Jamaica’s culture could also be a leading factor to such fast sprinters. If children all around are running, then everyone’s beliefs and values about running are going to be the same. Oftentimes, “kids seem more interested in romping around than competing… for kids this young, running is just about having fun” (CITATION). The fact that children see running as a fun activity, they will grow and learn to have a strong passion for it. This passion can then eventually drive a person to improve and keep doing