Justin Gatlin and His Elite Youth Track Club Ready To Debut
04/19/2022
The Pressure Track Club, led and coached by five-time Olympic Gold medalist Justin Gatlin, will make their debut on April 30, 2022
April 19, 2022 -- The Pressure Track Club, led and coached by five-time Olympic Gold medalist Justin Gatlin, will make their debut on April 30, 2022 at the Jackrabbit Sapphire Track Invite. This will be the team’s first event as they prepare for the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Greensboro, North Carolina this summer.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the 2004 Olympic 100m sprint champion, Justin Gatlin, are working together on a new docuseries this spring and summer highlighting the spirited rivalry between track and field’s dominant two countries – the United States and Jamaica. The docuseries, “Protect The Crown” covers the Gold Medalist and his elite youth track team as they get ready to compete against the best-of-the-best in Jamaica.
The Pressure Track Club is an All Star 4x100M Relay team of 11-year old boys from across the country, being guided by one of the best sprinters in the world. But before they head to Jamaica, they will get their running shoes ready here in the states. In the upcoming meet, they will compete against some of the most talented clubs in the country. AAU Track and Field clubs such as Charlotte Heat, Drive Phase, Carolina Shockwave, and Middle Georgia Blaze will be attending the event as well to test Gatlin’s All Star team.
"Working on this project with the AAU represents the love for track and field but also sports,” said Justin Gatlin, Olympic Gold Medalist. “It's cultivating young athletes to be the best representative of their sports and generation."
This is the first part of a series of meets designed to showcase and prepare The Pressure Track Club for competition with their Jamaican counterparts. The series will culminate with the AAU Junior Olympic Games on August 1-8, 2022. The AAU Junior Olympic Games travels back to Greensboro, North Carolina for the first time since 2019 where a record-breaking 13,000 competitors competed for a chance to win AAU gold.
About Team Pressure:
Meet the first USA Youth 4x1 Relay Team coached by a 5-time Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin. In Track & Field, relays are run in teams of four, with each member running an equal leg. Unlike all other open events, the success of a relay is largely contingent upon the equal success of each relay leg. Team “Pressure” is simply untouchable in this event due to the incredible explosive speed of the individual team members: Dashaun “Honeybadger” Morris II (Grayson, GA), Rudolph “Blaze” Ingram (Tampa, FL), Kareen “2K” Knox II (Las Vegas, NV), Rudyard (RJ) “Jizzle” West Jr. (West Monroe, LA), and Kaden “Big O” Coleman-Bennett (Washington, DC).
About AAU Track & Field:
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports event organizations in the country. As a multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports programs. Founded in 1888, the AAU philosophy of “Sports For All, Forever” is now shared by approximately 700,000 members and 150,000 volunteers across 45 sports programs and 55 U.S. districts. AAU Track and Field alumni include Olympic legends such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis to more recent runners like Sydney McLaughlin (2020 Olympic Gold medalist in 400m hurdles), Athing Mu (2020 Olympic Gold medalist in 800m hurdles) and Grant Holloway (Olympian, world record holder in 60m hurdles). More than fifty (50) AAU Track and Field alumni participated in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Visit aautrackandfield.org for more information.
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and the 2004 Olympic 100m sprint champion, Justin Gatlin, are working together on a new docuseries this spring and summer highlighting the spirited rivalry between track and field’s dominant two countries – the United States and Jamaica. The docuseries, “Protect The Crown” covers the Gold Medalist and his elite youth track team as they get ready to compete against the best-of-the-best in Jamaica.
The Pressure Track Club is an All Star 4x100M Relay team of 11-year old boys from across the country, being guided by one of the best sprinters in the world. But before they head to Jamaica, they will get their running shoes ready here in the states. In the upcoming meet, they will compete against some of the most talented clubs in the country. AAU Track and Field clubs such as Charlotte Heat, Drive Phase, Carolina Shockwave, and Middle Georgia Blaze will be attending the event as well to test Gatlin’s All Star team.
"Working on this project with the AAU represents the love for track and field but also sports,” said Justin Gatlin, Olympic Gold Medalist. “It's cultivating young athletes to be the best representative of their sports and generation."
This is the first part of a series of meets designed to showcase and prepare The Pressure Track Club for competition with their Jamaican counterparts. The series will culminate with the AAU Junior Olympic Games on August 1-8, 2022. The AAU Junior Olympic Games travels back to Greensboro, North Carolina for the first time since 2019 where a record-breaking 13,000 competitors competed for a chance to win AAU gold.
About Team Pressure:
Meet the first USA Youth 4x1 Relay Team coached by a 5-time Olympic gold medalist Justin Gatlin. In Track & Field, relays are run in teams of four, with each member running an equal leg. Unlike all other open events, the success of a relay is largely contingent upon the equal success of each relay leg. Team “Pressure” is simply untouchable in this event due to the incredible explosive speed of the individual team members: Dashaun “Honeybadger” Morris II (Grayson, GA), Rudolph “Blaze” Ingram (Tampa, FL), Kareen “2K” Knox II (Las Vegas, NV), Rudyard (RJ) “Jizzle” West Jr. (West Monroe, LA), and Kaden “Big O” Coleman-Bennett (Washington, DC).
About AAU Track & Field:
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports event organizations in the country. As a multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports programs. Founded in 1888, the AAU philosophy of “Sports For All, Forever” is now shared by approximately 700,000 members and 150,000 volunteers across 45 sports programs and 55 U.S. districts. AAU Track and Field alumni include Olympic legends such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Carl Lewis to more recent runners like Sydney McLaughlin (2020 Olympic Gold medalist in 400m hurdles), Athing Mu (2020 Olympic Gold medalist in 800m hurdles) and Grant Holloway (Olympian, world record holder in 60m hurdles). More than fifty (50) AAU Track and Field alumni participated in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Visit aautrackandfield.org for more information.
