A personal health crisis is what Olympian Michael Frater said got him interested in the medicinal benefits of cannabis and eventually led to the opening of the 4/20 Therapeutic Bliss dispensary in Manor Park, Kingston on Saturday.
Frater, 38, represented Jamaica at the senior level for more than a decade, winning gold medals as a member of Jamaica’s world-record-setting 4x100m relay teams at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea in 2011 and again at the London Olympics in 2012.
He also won a silver medal in the 100m at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. He was also a 100m champion at the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.
However, about five years ago persistent problems with his knees forced him to retire.
At Saturday’s launch, he explained how those knee problems introduced him to the healing properties of cannabis.
“I had very bad knees, and I remember waking up one day, and my knees were swollen, and I couldn’t walk. I went to the University Hospital (of the West Indies) where I met with Dr (Carl) Bruce and ran some tests but nobody could figure out what was wrong,” he told the gathering that included Jamaica’s Minister of Sports Olivia Grange, former world record holder Asafa Powell and Jamaica and West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle.
Christopher Samuda, President of the Jamaica Olympic Association and Ali McNab, an advisor to the sports minister were also in attendance and were in rapt attention as Frater shared his harrowing experience.
“I had an IAAF (World Athletics) function in Monaco. I remember leaving on Monday and got there on Tuesday and I couldn’t even walk off the plane. They had to send a wheelchair for me,” he recalled.
Initially, doctors in Monaco believed his condition was the result of doping, he said, but subsequent tests disproved their theories even though they were still unable to determine what was the cause of the constant swelling and fluid build-up in his knees.
He spent two weeks in hospital there where doctors ‘patched’ him up enough to enable him to fly home.
A subsequent visit to a medical facility in Florida was also unable to help him get any closer to identifying what was wrong with his knees, he said which left him fearing he would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
It was then that his father, Lindel Frater, suggested he tried cannabis oil. He tried it and within a month he felt ‘brand new’, he said.
“I started studying a lot about it and realized that a drug that has been taboo for most of my life is really a miracle drug. It’s really a drug that once taken properly with the proper prescription, the medicinal purposes are exponential.”
Minister Grange applauded the retired Olympian and praised him for his initiative in opening the dispensary. She eventually made the first purchase of medicinal marijuana. Samuda also shared similar sentiments while praising Frater for his venture into the cannabis industry.
Gayle, meanwhile, said Frater’s venture was an example for other retired athletes to emulate.
“I am a big supporter of Michael's career and now his business venture, and from a sportsman's point of view, there is life after your original career and to actually venture in a business is good for him and we are here to support him 100 per cent,” said Gayle.
Powell, who was Frater’s teammate on several national teams, said, his friend and colleague, was always a budding entrepreneur.
“From ever since, Michael has always been the brains among all of us. He has always been driven, business-oriented. I have always admired that about him,” said the former 100m world record holder who brought his wife Alyshia along.
“It’s kind of intimidating sometimes when you’re talking to him, and he is saying some stuff I don’t even know about, so I have always known he would make this step into business.
“He keeps pushing and I am very, very happy for him.”
Reggae Boyz manager Roy Simpson is to meet with representatives with midfielder Ravel Morrison after the player’s recent departure from Dutch club ADO Den Haag by mutual consent.
Jamaica international Ravel Morrison has had his contract with Dutch team ADO Den Haag cancelled by mutual consent, according to the club’s website.
The 27-year-old Morrison, who made his debut for Jamaica in November 2020, departs the club after just five appearances.
"The roads of ADO Den Haag and Ravel Morrison will separate immediately," the club said in a statement. "ADO Den Haag and Morrison have decided to terminate the 27-year-old midfielder's contract by mutual agreement.
"Morrison signed for one season at the Cars Jeans Stadium last summer. The Jamaica international has a history with Manchester United, West Ham United and Lazio Roma, among others. ADO Den Haag thanks Morrison for his efforts and wishes him the best of luck in his further career."
Whichever club Morrison joins from hereon will be the 12th in a career.
Since he was signed by Manchester United as a talented teenager in 2010, Morrison has failed to fulfil the potential seen in him by then-manager Alex Ferguson. He did not play for the club and was eventually signed by West Ham United in 2012.
His time at West Ham came to an end in 2015 and has since gone on to play for Birmingham City, Queens Park Rangers and Cardiff City.
He made four appearances for Lazio in Serie A between 2015 and 2019, before stints at Ostersund, Sheffield United, Middleborough and ADO Den Haag.
A season of giving continued for double World U20 Champion and rising track star, Briana Williams, after a recent visit to the Office of the Prime Minister where she gifted Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness with printers for distribution to schools, as the country continues to navigate distance learning during the pandemic.
The effort was the latest in a series of philanthropic acts undertaken by the athlete, who also recently donated tablets to student-athletes and printing machinery to the Jamaica Cancer Society who produces large volumes of readouts of pap smears, mammograms, and testicular cancer screenings on a daily basis. Williams also conducted a Christmas treat, in Montego Bay, in December.
The 18-year-old, who is also a patron of the Caribbean’s largest charity event, the Sigma Sagicor Run 2021, was lauded by the Prime Minister for her charitable efforts.
“I am happy that our young people are being agents of change and are willing to help build our great nation through service. Keep up the good work, Briana,” he wrote on his social media pages.
For Williams, it was inspirational to meet the Prime Minister once again. She was awarded the Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in sports, in 2018, following her outstanding performances at the World Under-20 Championships and CARIFTA Games, where she won the coveted Austin Sealy award.
“It was an honour to sit with him and he was just so encouraging and inspirational. Just being able to speak to him about my training and my preparations was so uplifting for me. He also promised to match my donation by purchasing printers for distribution to more schools as well. I know that if each of us contributes in some way, we can help Jamaica recover stronger, so I’m just happy to play my part,” said Williams.
Williams was accompanied by her manager Tanya Lee and Dominique Walker, CEO of Printware Online who provided the printers.
Former West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, believes the upcoming and current generation of fast bowlers will only reach their full potential if they spend more time thinking on the pitch.
For many decades the Windies was known for producing generations of fearsome fast bowlers. The likes of Joel Garner, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshal, and Michael Holding filled the hearts of countless opposition batsmen with fear for decades.
A new generation of Windies bowlers, led by Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel along with youngster Alzarri Joseph has shown some promise, in recent times, but are yet to scale the heights reached by the golden generation. Lloyd, who captained and played alongside many of the region’s top fast bowlers, has insisted the players had more than just pace.
“The thing with our fast bowlers is that they all did something different, it wasn’t just inswingers or outswingers. They bowled different things. So, when you came to bat against our players, you had to be at the top of your game and that’s why they were successful,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest program.
“There was no let-up. We didn’t just have fast bowlers; we had thinking fast bowlers. They were not calypso cricketers,” he added.
West Indies captain for the Bangladesh series, Kraigg Brathwaite, is confident the second-string team will give a good account of itself, despite facing a difficult task.
The regional team, who are off to the third overseas tour since the sport was impacted by the pandemic, will be missing 12 first-team players. Team captains Jason Holder, Kieron Pollard, and Test vice-captain Roston Chase are among the players that opted out of the tour for health and safety concerns.
Brathwaite will be joined by in-form batsman Jermaine Blackwood and bowlers, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel, and Alzarri Joseph as some of the available first-team players on the tour, but for the most part, the team will consist of fringe players and a few debutants. The stand-in captain, however, insists the Windies are up for the challenge.
“We are all up for the challenge… it will be a tough series in Bangladesh but we have confidence and we have belief that we will do very well,” Brathwaite said.
“We have some members of the squad who will be playing there for the first time so it will be something new to them, but they know they have the talent and are capable of performing at this level.”
The tour will comprise of two Test matches, as part of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) World Test Championship, and three One-Day Internationals (ODI) as part of the ICC’s Cricket World Cup Super League. The ODIs present the first opportunity for the West Indies to earn Super League points which count towards the pre-qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2023.
Legendary West Indies captain, Clive Lloyd, insists the current crop of players must learn to play in all conditions if the team is to eventually emerge from the doldrums of world cricket.
In the aftermath of the recent squad selection for the West Indies tour of Bangladesh, plenty of eyebrows were raised not only due to the absence of 12 first team players but following the non-selection of promising young fast bowler Chemar Holder for the Test cricket squad.
The team has the typical fast-bowling trio of Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach, and Alzarri Joseph but with captain Jason Holder opting out of the tour, many thought Chemar would have been a natural replacement, particularly after a promising debut in difficult circumstances last month.
Cricket West Indies chief of selectors Clive Lloyd, however, explained that the panel had chosen to include more spinners at the expense of Holder, due to the nature of spin-friendly surfaces in Bangladesh. Lloyd believes the decision could cost the young bowler valuable experience.
“These guys need to play in those countries where it’s not that helpful and you learn to bowl a better line and length,” Lloyd told the Mason and Guest radio show.
“On the dead pitches, someone like (Collin) Croft would still be disconcerting. He would be getting it up into your neck. The point is that our fast bowlers bowled well on any kind of wicket,” he added.
“Our bowlers were not deterred by slow pitches and that is what our youngsters have to learn, to bowl on pitches that are not responsive. Dennis Lille, when he realized the pitch was not helping, he would cut down his run and bowl a different kind of delivery, cutters, and so on and make you think about your cricket. So did Richard Hadlee, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, all these guys would have learned to bowl on wickets that are not responsive. If we are just going to rest people because the wickets are not responsive then something is wrong.”
Twenty-Four West Indies Women cricketers will gather in Antigua from this weekend at the Coolidge Cricket Ground (CCG) for a three-week high-performance training programme.
Trinidad and Tobago Kevin Molino says playing with better quality players at Columbus Crew will help him raise his level of play as he eyes a successful career and a championship title with the 2020 Major League Soccer champions.
Jamaica’s Sports Minister Olivia Grange has revealed that the resurfacing of the track at the National Stadium in Kingston should be complete soon and that work on the one at the Montego Bay Sports Complex at the other end of the island is to begin soon.
The refurbishing work was carried out by German company BSW, who laid the previous surface in 2010.
The installation of the previous track in Kingston was completed in March 2011 and was expected to last for at least 10 years in line with international standards.
According to AthleticsBusiness, most modern tracks are built in three layers: a paved asphalt substrate, a rubber performance layer and a textured rubber top layer. Ideally, laser-levelling the asphalt to within a 3-mm tolerance is the first step toward making a consistent running surface across the entire oval. The middle layer can be poured on-site or manufactured in advance and delivered to the site — the latter scenario ensures the greatest consistency in terms of thickness.
According to Minister Grange, most of that work has now been done and the rest should be completed within days.
“The resurfacing of the National Stadium track is 90 per cent complete. We are a few days behind due to rain, but the resurfacing will be completed by the middle of next week, after which, the marking of lanes and boxes will commence,” the minister told Jamaica’s Daily Gleaner.
She said that after the marking is completed, World Athletics will send a technician to test the track and issue the expected certification of the Class One track, the highest possible certification.
The Minister had announced in November 2020 that work on the stadium track was set to begin and that the work on the one in Montego Bay was scheduled for the 2021-2022 financial year. She had asked that the Sports Development Foundation treat the Catherine Hall Sports Complex as a priority for the next financial year which starts on April 1, 2021.
At the time, she said two factors would determine when the work gets going at the National Stadium; the first is that because the track has to be laid on a completely dried surface, it must await the end of seasonal rains.
The other factor is the ability of the manufacturers’ representatives, BSW of Germany, to come to Jamaica to supervise the project and this will depend on covid restrictions.
The resurfacing comes at an opportune time as Jamaica is expected to have its national championships in June to select a team to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan scheduled for July 23 – August 8.
Wolmer’s Boys School will join forces with top locally based track club MVP in a bid to turn around its high school track and field program.
The 14-time Boys Championships winner last claimed the title in 2010, on the 100th year anniversary of the competition. Though being typically there or thereabout, the school has not been able to consistently compete for the Mortimer Geddes trophy.
The shakeup will see the school part ways with noted high school track and field coach Danny Hawthorne, who took over the job in 2016. The annual track and field event was cancelled last year, due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team has finished outside of the top five for the previous three years claiming 6th place positions in 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions. MVP club president Bruce James, a former student at the institution, confirmed the existence of the new arrangements.
“The headmaster of Wolmer’s Mr. Pennycoke has invited the MVP track club to play a positive role in the redevelopment of the Wolmer’s Boys track team, this takes effect on the first of January 2021,” James told Television Jamaica.
“The Wolmer’s Boys school happens to be where the MVP track and field club was founded and the MVP club’s management consists of Wolmer’s old boys such as Stephen Francis, Paul Francis, Andre Edwards, so we are happy to help the Wolmer’s Boys track and field team and the program he is building,” he added.
President of the Nevis Cricket Association, Carlisle Powell, has called for a level playing field when it comes to the selection of players for the West Indies cricket team.
The administrator has taken exception with what he believes is the unfair treatment meted out to opening batsman Kieron Powell, who is also his son. With 12 first team members opting not to go on the upcoming tour of Bangladesh, Powell, the top runs scorer during last season’s Super50 competition, was left out of a hastily assembled second-string team.
According to Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors Roger Harper, the player had failed to meet the team’s fitness standards. The senior Powell, however, insists that was not quite true as while representing the Leeward Islands Kieron had passed the Yoyo fitness test more than once. He insists that the issue stems from the fact that the player has not being given another opportunity to prove his fitness by the regional governing body. By comparison, he claims that Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmeyer, who both failed the test at the same time as Powell, were quickly afforded opportunities to prove their improved fitness level.
“The West Indies Cricket Board has repeatedly said as recently as Roger Harper on the 29th…that Powell was left out because he has not yet met the fitness standard, which is absolutely inaccurate in that he has more than once met and passed the fitness test as administered by the Leeward Islands,” Powell told Television Jamaica.
“The West Indies Cricket Board should amend their statement to say that they have failed to give him a fitness test since he failed the test in December of 2019,” he added.
“By the same token others who failed the fitness test at the same time, Hetmeyer and Lewis, fitness tests were arranged for them by the board. We’re saying this is absolutely wrong there must be a level playing field for all the persons.”
Former West Indies batting coach, Toby Radford, has questioned the conventional wisdom of selecting so many spinners for the team's upcoming tour of Bangladesh.
The omission of promising pace bowler Chemar Holder raised more than a few eyebrows when the squad was named last week, especially on the back of a promising debut in New Zealand. The Test squad at current features four spinners in Rahkeem Cornwall, Kavem Hodge, Veerasammy Permaul, and Jomel Warrican along with the regular fast bowling trio of Shannon Gabriel, Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief of selectors, Roger Harper, went on to explain that Holder’s exclusion for additional spin bowling was based on the fact that the team was eager to take advantage of Bangladesh’s spin-friendly pitches.
Radford, who was part of a successful tour of the region in 2012, is unsure if that was the best approach.
“I’ve been listening to what people have been saying. We have gone heavy with a lot of spin. You expect the pitches to be slow and turn out there. Whether they need as many spinners as they are taking, I’m not too sure,” Radford told the Mason and Guest radio program.
“In fact, when we won in 2012 it was done with good batting, posting big scores and having pace, actually, guys who could get it down in the high 80s, 90 miles and hour, not just assuming that because it’s slow pitches spinners are going to do the work. I’m actually working for Bangladesh at the moment, I spent 6 weeks out there, they play spin very well, they’re brought up playing that kind of bowling.”
Jamaican track athlete, Briana Williams, the 2018 double World U20 sprint champion, will serve as the race patron for the 2021 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run set for February 21.
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