“We know we are looking at future World Champions,” says Grange as INSPORTS launches 41st annual Primary Schools All-Island Athletics Championships

By May 04, 2023
(Standing) JAAA First Vice President the Hon. Ian Forbes, Acting Executive Director on INSPORTS Major Desmond Brown, (seated) Minister of Gender, Culture, Entertainment and Sport, the Hon. Olivia Babsy Grange and Devon Biscuits Brand Manager Sherene Bryan. (Standing) JAAA First Vice President the Hon. Ian Forbes, Acting Executive Director on INSPORTS Major Desmond Brown, (seated) Minister of Gender, Culture, Entertainment and Sport, the Hon. Olivia Babsy Grange and Devon Biscuits Brand Manager Sherene Bryan.

The Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) officially launched the 41st staging of the INSPORTS Primary Schools All-Island Athletics Championships in a ceremony held inside the Hospitality Room at the National Stadium in Kingston on Thursday.

The Championships, scheduled for May 4-27, will see competition among 130 schools with 6000 students in three regional championships leading up to the grand finale, the national championships.

“Today marks the start of what we have come to regard as our marquee sports event in Jamaica for juniors,” said Minister of Gender, Culture, Education and Sport, the Hon. Olivia “Babsy” Grange.

The Eastern Championships got underway on Thursday at Stadium East and will last until May 6.

The competition then moves to the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport for the Central Championships from May 8-10.

From there, the competition moves to St. Elizabeth Technical High School for the Western Championships between May 11 and May 13.

The National Championships, expected to showcase the best of the best in terms of Primary School athletics in the country, takes place from May 25-27 to decide the All-Island champion.

“It will be thrilling to see the youngsters out there competing. They look forward to it and are excited about it and we know we are looking at future world champions,” said Grange.

Devon Biscuits, who came on board as a major sponsor last year, will serve as title sponsors in 2023 and have committed $9 million to INSPORTS.

“We are happy to be on board,” said Brand Manager for Devon Biscuits, Sherene Bryan.

“We recognize the importance of encouraging, supporting and fostering Jamaica’s talent,” Bryan added before going into how Devon Biscuits came on board in 2022.

“We were made aware of the Championships two days before the meet began. I saw a social media post which was made by my dear friend, Trishana McGowan, and I reached out to her to ask if they had a sponsor. She then advised me that there was no sponsor on board. I then called her and requested the information for the directors of Insports and she provided it that opened the door for further conversations and now we’re here as the title sponsors.”

First Vice President of the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association, the Hon. Ian Forbes, spoke on behalf of the association.

“41 years means that something right would have been happening. This is where the seeds of greatness are sewn,” Forbes said.

 

Bradley Jacks

Bradley Jacks is a budding journalist and an avid sports fan. His love of research and sports has led him to SportsMax.tv, a place where those passions work hand in hand to allow him to produce content.

Related items

  • Jackson and Bol added to Stockholm Diamond League on June 2nd Jackson and Bol added to Stockholm Diamond League on June 2nd

    Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson and Dutch 400m hurdles star Femke Bol will be among the headline stars at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on June 2nd.

    Two of the biggest stars in women's track and field will be in Wanda Diamond League action in Stockholm on June 2nd, with reigning series champions Shericka Jackson and Femke Bol set to compete at the BAUHAUS Galan. 

    Jamaican sprint star Jackson is defending both the 100m and 200m Diamond League titles in 2024, having made history with her double victory at the final in Eugene last season. 

    Jackson not only joined an elite group of athletes who have won two Diamond Trophies in a single season, but also became only the second woman ever after Colombia's Caterine Ibargüen to win two Diamond League titles on successive days. 

    Dutch one-lap ace Bol has dominated the 400m hurdles since in recent years, winning three titles and 20 individual races since she burst onto the scene in 2020. Fresh from her world-record-breaking world 400m indoor title in March, she will be aiming for a fourth Diamond League title and a first ever Olympic gold this summer. 

    The Wanda Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series in athletics. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in global track and field. Athletes compete for points at the 14 series meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels on 13th-14th September.

     

  • Expectations high as Barbados fields 31-member team to Carifta Games Expectations high as Barbados fields 31-member team to Carifta Games

    Despite the absence of a synthetic track to aid in their preparations, Barbados Head coach Ramon Armstrong believes his athletes are ready enough to give a good account of themselves at the 51st edition of the Carifta Games in Grenada.

    In fact, Armstrong has exuded confidence that the 31-member team –one of the largest to be fielded by Barbados in recent years – could equal or even surpass last year’s performances in the Bahamas where they collected two gold, six silver and two bronze in their 10-medal haul.

    The three-day Easter weekend spectacle is scheduled to begin on Saturday and end on Monday at the Kirani James Athletic Stadium, and Barbados is certainly aiming to make their presence felt in the ‘Spice Isle’.

     “All of the students and the management are very excited. This has been long in coming. The students worked hard this season having to run on grass, not having a proper surface to train on, so to be here is a big accomplishment and a big achievement for them and they are excited, and we are also excited for them,” Armstrong told the media ahead of the team’s departure on Tuesday.

    “Goals and expectations are like all the other teams. Everybody is looking to go and perform their best and either repeat what they would have done or better it…and to get as many medals as they can.

    “This is a fresh year, no pressure to anyone, but as I said we’re looking to improve on our performances and hopefully, once we focus on that and we produce well, then medals will come, but we’re not going to give a specific number,” he added.

    Armstrong, delighted by the number of athletes on the team, expressed pleasure with the way in which track and field has bounced back since being hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “I think this is really our rebirth after Covid. You know Covid would have put a stop to a lot of training, and we lost some athletes during that time, so we’re now on the rise again. We know it would have taken a while so we’re glad to see that the numbers are gradually increasing again,” he stated.

    On that note, Armstrong explained that the early trip to Grenada was to assist in upping the tempo where readiness is concerned, as well as to get athletes acclimatized to the conditions.

    “Pretty much we’ve just been doing recovery and that’s why we’re leaving early. We have them together and we’ll go down and we’ll get to train on the track, on the surface that they’re going to compete on to make sure that they’re prepared for what is to come,” Armstrong said.

    He also pointed to the Under-20 athletes as the team’s strong point, especially given that they have another year in the class.

    “We might have been weakened this year, but interestingly enough, those Under-20s really stepped up to the plate and is one of the largest groups this year and most of them have another year or two in Under-20, so it speaks well for the future,” Armstrong ended.

    The Carifta Games will be live on SportsMax.

  • Hollie Pearne-Webb relishing Team GB’s Olympic underdog tag ahead of Paris 2024 Hollie Pearne-Webb relishing Team GB’s Olympic underdog tag ahead of Paris 2024

    Hollie Pearne-Webb has warned Great Britain’s rivals not to write off their chances of making it on to the podium at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

    Pearne-Webb won gold with Team GB in Rio in 2016 and captained them to bronze in Tokyo five years later, on both occasions against the odds.

    Now the 33-year-old defender is targeting a third assault on the medals firm in the knowledge that they may have to do something unexpected once again.

     

    View this post on Instagram

    A post shared by Hollie Pearne-Webb (@holliewebb11)

     

    Pearne-Webb told the PA news agency: “Obviously I’ve been to the past two and been in a similar situation. It’s very similar to going into both Rio and Tokyo in terms of where we’re ranked, outsiders looking in.

    “You probably wouldn’t expect us to be on the top of the podium when we get there, but I fully believe that we have the opportunity to be on top of the podium, just like I did going into Rio and just like I did going into Tokyo – and look what we did at both those Games.

    “I’m really excited about the next few months.”

    Britain, who will play in Pool B alongside Australia, Argentina, Spain, the United States and South Africa, open their campaign against Spain on July 28 having claimed the 12th and final qualification spot with a 2-1 victory over Ireland in January.

    Pearne-Webb, who famously scored the winning goal in a final shoot-out victory over the Netherlands in Rio, is confident the nerve they displayed to edge their way to Paris will serve them well in the French capital.

    “I always find Olympic qualification is more stressful than the Games themselves,” she said. “It’s been great preparation for us to be in those hugely pressurised moments of ‘It’s all or nothing’ in a game.

    “We’ve experienced that now, we came through on the right side of it, thankfully, and that just puts a huge amount of confidence in the bank when we get to the Olympics this summer.”

    Pearne-Webb’s comments came as she was unveiled as the chair of a new body which will give elite athletes a voice in the formation of sporting policies.

    The Athlete Advisory Forum, a branch of the British Elite Athletes Association, will review proposals relating to matters such as coaching, culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, finances, representation, safeguarding, selection, social impact, support and welfare from organisations including UK Sport – which has made athlete input into policy development part of its response to the Whyte Review into allegations of abuse in gymnastics – and the BEAA itself.

    Pearne-Webb is joined by fellow BEAA athlete board member and Olympic sprinter Asha Philip, former GB rower Alice Davies, para discus thrower Dan Greaves, bobsleigh Olympian Brad Hall, Scottish diver Grace Reid, men’s hockey keeper James Mazarelo, shooter Seonaid McIntosh, fencer Marcus Mepstead and retired sailor Kirstie Urwin.

    “It’s a really good opportunity for something that’s across all sports, an opportunity for our voice to be heard,” Pearne-Webb said.

    “We’re at a good place now, where there are many opportunities for us to have a say and give our opinions on various different things, so I think it’s a really good step in the right direction for what we need.”

© 2023 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.