Former head coach of the Atoms Athletics Club, Foster Sampson has died.Sampson was the last coach for the club that trained on the Queen’s College ground back in the 90s, before he migrated to the U.S. The club is no longer in existence. He died earlier last week.

He coached a number of this country’s top track and field athletes in the Payne’s Neema and Tai, 200m and 400m specialist Mera Belisle, former national 200m and 400m champion Kwame Caesar and long distance athlete Vish Sookmangal and numerous others.
Sampson also coached his nephews Kevin and Kester Abrams. The former, one of this country’s top 400m athletes and the latter a long, triple and high jumper.
On Facebook, one of his charges Rory Forde posted, ‘Today I awoke to the sad news that a giant had passed on. A coach not only on the track but also in life. A man who saw the potential in me and numerous others and who nurtured that potential with genuine interest and concern. Here’s to you Foster Sampson and every life that you have touched. The greatest coach ever, big brother, mentor…’
Belisle’s status read ‘Foster Sampson! Made a positive impact, was loved by so many and will be missed tremendously!
Sampson coached when Claude Blackmore was president of the then Amateur Athletics Association of Guyana.
He was an IAAF certified level II sprints and hurdles track coach.
Before he migrated, Sampson studied engineering at the University of Guyana and had a master’s degree in international business from Kaplan University in the USA.
He leaves to mourn, his wife Michelle and two sons.
In Baltimore, Maryland where he resided, he also authored his first book – We Did It, Personal Empowerment and Awakening, Triumph over Perceived Obstacles and Setbacks’.
In it, according to his website, he felt purposefully driven by his life’s experiences to address the most pressing issues of our time in the hope of creating a better world by shifting the human consciousness to the level of its best self.
Some of his former athletes are planning a memorial service in his honour.

(By Leeron Brumell)