(I-r) Mayor Zámečník, JOA President Christopher Samuda, Festival Director Renata Balašová, Film Writer and Producer Margriet de Schutter and sport publicist Jakub Bažant
Contributed
It will be a signal milestone when the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) initiates the "Kingston Liberec Connection" as a model partnership in the global sport film industry.
On a recent visit to the Czech Republic, JOA President, Christopher Samuda, who was a guest of the Liberec Film Festival Organization, proposed an Olympic partnership dubbed the "Kingston-Liberec Connection" - between the cities of Kingston and Liberec in strengthening bi-lateral relationships between Jamaica and the Czech Republic in the sport film industry.
President Samuda, who was also a speaker at the festival, expressed confidence that the proposed partnership will serve to "birth and develop a sporting cultural economy that will see mutual investments in talents across the professional spectrum in the sport-film industry while giving the peoples of Jamaica and the Czech Republic opportunities to experience, in cinema and film, cultural realities of each other in bridging the oceanic divide."
Mayor Zámečník welcomed the proposal and signaled the support of the city of Liberec which has a very respectable and enviable history in sport and the film festival.
Within the context of history in the making, JOA Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer, Ryan Foster said “the JOA looks within but also beyond the boundaries of Jamaica for partners who, with us, will establish landmark executions and lasting legacies for the benefit of generations in the global village of sport."
Meanwhile, Renata Balašová, director of the Liberec International Film Festival, which has a history spanning more than two decades, endorsed what promises to be an exciting and innovative “connection”.
Entitled the "Kingston Liberec Connection" the initiative comes at a time when the JOA's educational agenda, through its "Stamina" series, will be expanding its reach across the hemisphere building capacity in athletes, coaches and administrators intra and extra-regionally.
"We the JOA are a homegrown product rooted in the soil of Jamrock but this administration considers the apex body also as an international commodity in the business of sport as we play our part in sustaining an ever dynamic universal sport economy," Samuda said.
The Czech Olympic Committee has also expressed its support of what will be undoubtedly a groundbreaking “connection” in modern sport diplomacy.
IOC President Thomas Bach to visit Jamaica on Friday, March 3
President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, will, for the first time, set foot on the soil of Jamaica as he pays an official and historic visit to the island.
Mr Bach is set to arrive in Jamaica late Friday.
During his brief visit, the world governing Olympic body’s head will undertake a hectic schedule and President of the Jamaica Olympic Association, (JOA), Christopher Samuda, expects a very successful visit.
“President Bach’s engagement will serve to deepen and embolden our continuing commitment to the values of Olympism as a way of life in sport while providing a welcomed opportunity for an interface with members of the local Olympic family,” said Samuda.
In July 2018, a petal from the flame of the cauldron of the 2012 London Olympic Games was established at the Sir Donald Sangster International Airport, in Montego Bay by the current JOA administration “as a landmark embodying the ideals of a global sport movement, giving earnest hope to the burning aspirations of Jamaica’s sportsmen and women in their pursuit of excellence and kindling the ambitious light of our youth to emulate” JOA Secretary General and CEO, Ryan Foster, said.
At the heart of the President Bach’s visit will undoubtedly be fraternal unity as the top brass of the JOA and IOC executives meet on common ground in advancing the Olympic agenda.
“A meeting of the minds in sport, a mutuality of purpose and will and commonality of values will characterize discussions and anchor outcomes” President Samuda stated.
President Bach, a Montreal 1976 Olympic Games gold medalist in the discipline of foil in fencing and a lawyer by profession, will depart the island with his delegation on March 5 on the way to the Dominican Republic after “what we have every confidence will be a milestone in Jamaica’s Olympic experience” Secretary General Foster concluded.
Jamaica's softball team to compete at Pan Am qualifier with backing from JOA
As the national women's softball team prepares to leave the island shortly, they do so confident in the backing they have received from the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA).
The team leaves for the US Virgin Islands where they will participate in a qualifying tournament for the Pan-American Games as a precursor to an Olympic bid.
The national association is funding the aspirations of softball on a journey which, hopefully, will be historic.
“History making and their love for country compel our support for softball and I have watched them in training exemplifying commitment and going beyond the challenges of not having the luxury of resources in the sport to creating a wealth of talent,” said JOA President Christopher Samuda.
The national team has been in training at their home ground at Up Park Camp and for JOA Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster, “the JOA is proud of and committed to the softball artillery as part of our armoury of building capacity in several sports in giving them a fighting chance in the international arena of combat. This investment is bankable.”
Softball Jamaica’s President, Marvalyn Campbell, thanked the nation’s governing sport body “for believing in softball and responding every time to the call which will not be forgotten and for which the team is very grateful.”
The JOA Executives also lauded the directors of Softball Jamaica for growing the support and providing our sportsmen and women opportunities for self-actualisation and national representation.
“We didn’t disappoint”- JAGA President Nicole Grant thankful for continued Supreme Ventures partnership for Gymnastics Classic
President of the Jamaica Gymnastics Association, Nicole Grant, is excited about the association’s ongoing partnership with Supreme Ventures that, she hopes, will help Jamaica conquer the world of Gymnastics in the future.
The Supreme Ventures Gymnastics Classic and National Trials will take place at the Jamaica School of Gymnastics in Kingston from February 11-12.
The juniors will be vying for one spot at the Junior World Championships scheduled for March 25-April 3 in Antalya, Turkey.
The seniors will be vying for five spots at the Pan Am Championships scheduled for Medellin, Colombia from May 22-29. The Pan Am Championships will serve as a qualifier for this year’s Pan Am Games scheduled for October 6-October 22 in Santiago, Chile as well as the World Championships scheduled for Antwerp, Belgium from September 29-October 8. This year’s World Championships will be used as a qualifier for next year’s Paris Olympics.
For the second year in a row, Supreme Ventures, through the connection made by the Jamaica Olympic Association, has signed on as the sponsor for the event, something that Grant is very thankful for.
“We have always been in a partnership with the Jamaica Olympic Association as we are affiliated. In Jamaica, we are a minor sport so the JOA has really helped us form these kinds of partnerships,” Grant said ahead of day one of the trials on Saturday.
“They connected us with Supreme Ventures and they were quite happy with what they saw last year. We did not disappoint them and, as a result, they have come on board for the second year in a row to work with us,” she added.
When asked what she expects from the athletes on display this weekend, Grant encouraged them to show spirit, noting that winning does not mean you will make the respective teams.
“I expect the girls to do the best that they can and show us what they have. Show us how they can fight because when you go out to major competitions you must have that fight,” Grant said.
“We want to see that. You do not necessarily have to win for us to select you. We have a selection process that we use but we want to see what you have to offer or what you are capable of,” she added.
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