For more than a century there has been a Jamaican athlete that has impressed someone, somewhere across the world. The early days of cricket tours in and out of the West Indies, international boxing cards, football, netball and host of other sports, served a bit of a signal to the world that Jamaica was and continues to be a big part of any sport conversation.
Ask any track and field fan, cricket (yes, believe it or not); netball, football, basketball fan and a Jamaican athlete’s name can come up.
Over time, sport has been funded by private and public means. What has been consistent though, is the first-class performance that has been maintained, sustained and enhanced by the athletes.
In 1995, the game changed somewhat, the Government of the day approved a plan to start the Sports Development Foundation. The SDF was established as an independent body to contribute to the development of the nation through sports.
With sport emerging (at the time) as a major contributor to the island’s economic activities, there was a thought that sport needed more. The agency in its early days focused on infrastructure and capacity building. The Mona Hockey Field (astro turf); several football fields, National Indoor Sport Centre were among some of the venues that were renovated, upgraded and built from scratch. The capacity building focused on administrative development of officials from at least 40 sporting disciplines.
As you read along, and you are in the business of sport, you can clearly identify the gaps for a country that has produced so many world-class athletes. So whilethe track and field performances have been outstanding to date, to gain and maintain the competitive edge and move ahead, there needs to be a re-thinking of how sport is:
Funded
Managed
Researched
Marketed
Re-Developed
It is with those five key areas, that my recommendations for Sport for Jamaica going forward include:
Boost the work of the SDF
Remove the S from CHASE (they can determine what to do with C-H-A-E)
Increase the staff numbers to include a:
Planner
Researcher
Marketer
Developer
It is clear that Jamaica’s technical talent is at a great level - coaches and athletes continue to break the ceiling of performance. Most of the major sporting events have consistent work being done with their technical staff.
The next level is needed and in another decade, if we are not careful, we will be chasing dreams in the key areas that will ensure that the next generation has access to the same enabling environment.
GC Foster, UTECH, UWI and Mico continue to train Sport Officials in education, management and preventative care; but an elite athlete cannot in 2023 & beyond, compete without the support of branding and marketing to take them to the top of their games.
In redefining how Jamaica as a nation treats this industry, there are also some policy decisions which should be happening simultaneously. SPORT should have its own Ministry.
This is what I envisage the team should look like from the policy and operational side
Ministry of Sport
Minister
Minister of State
Permanent Secretary
Director of Sport + 5
Sport Development Foundation (agency)
Managing Director
Directors of Marketing, Research, Finance
Corporate Planner (to deal with bilaterals, administration, academic development, infrastructure
Event Manager (incoming and outgoing delegations, permits, venue updates)
Change is inevitable if we want to be successful.
The research element of the business cannot be overstated, as it is the data we collect and how we use it to inform our next set of moves on and off the field that will determine our capacity to handle, manage and deliver a world class sporting industry run by those who are capable.
In the next column, I will pick the team who can and should be asked to deliver on this plan. Until then…
Carole
The 2023 Gibson McCook Relays will take place at the National Stadium in Kingston on February 25.
The meet is celebrating 50 years of existence and will return with 43 events in a 12-hour extravaganza.
PUMA, Television Jamaica, Wisynco and Digicel are the major sponsors along with 28 other business partners which have covered all 45 events for the meet.
Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Prof Rainford Wilks in expressing his delight is excited about two new events.
“The 60 meters open for Elite Men and Women should add to the thrill of the meet. We are also pleased with the planning for the milestone event.”
Back to its original schedule, which sees the meet starting at 9:00 am the morning session will have 20 heats and five finals up to 2:30; while in the afternoon session 40 finals are set to start from 4:00 pm.
The meet, known for its on time running, sees the last event the 4 X 400 meters High School Boys go off at 9pm.
The World’s fastest man, Dr the Hon Usain Bolt is the patron for the meet. At a press briefing, Bolt expressed his undying love for Jamaica and reflected on his own performances at the meet. Bolt last competed at that event in 2017 for the Racers Track Club en route to the World Championship in London the same year.
This year's staging continues with a full week of activities including a Church Service on February 19, the Howard Aris Memorial Lecture at UTECH on February 21 and an Awards Banquet at the Jamaica Pegasus on February 23 before the meet on February 25 at the National Stadium.
Tickets go on sale on Monday, February 20 at the ticket office at the National Stadium. Two categories are available for the grandstand: Finish Line - $5,000, Regular Grandstand - $3,500, Bleachers - $500.
Chairman Wilks would like to remind fans “this Gibson McCook Relays is where athletes from all ages compete.”
The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced that a delegation of 23 comprising eight students and two coaches each from Edwin Allen High School and Kingston College and three executive members from Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) will leave for Trinidad and Tobago on February 7, 2023, to participate in the Secondary School Relay Festival on February 9, 2023.
The participation of the Jamaican team at the Relay Festival follows a sports study tour by the Minister of Sport and Community Development for Trinidad and Tobago, the Honourable Shamfa Cudjoe, and a team of officials.
Minister Cudjoe and members of her delegation had met with Minister Grange, a technical team from the Ministry and its agencies, representatives from the Jamaica Athletics Administration Association (JAAA), ISSA, the University of Technology (Utech), GC Foster College of Sport and Physical Education, and the Ministry of Education and Youth. They also visited four high schools and a primary school.
Minister Grange said, “It is expected that this bilateral cooperation between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago will bear much fruit for both our countries.”
The Jamaicans will be competing in the 4x100m and 4x400m relays at the festival. Barbados and Guyana are the other countries that have been invited to send teams to participate in the Relay Festival.
The exchange activities are also being celebrated as part of the 60th Anniversary of Independence of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
The delegation will return to Jamaica on Friday, February 10, 2023.
Leading 2-0 from Day 1 of their Davis Cup Group II tie, Jamaica went on to win contest 3-2 at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre in Kingston on Sunday.
After Rowland Phillips won his match over Krisjtian Tamm 6-1, 6-1 and Blaise Bicknell defeated Kenneth Raisma 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday, the Estonian doubles team of Raisma and Jurgen Zopp pulled one back on Sunday when they defeated John Chin and Daniel Azar in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday.
However, things took a turn for the worst for the visitors in match four when Blaise Bicknell defeated Tamm by default to hand Jamaica an unassailable lead.
Blaise Bicknell won his tie-breaker against Tamm, who hit the centre-line judge out of frustration and picking up a default as a result effectively handing the Jamaicans the match.
The visiting team won some consolation when Johannes Seaman defeated Jacob Bicknell 6-1, 6-0 to end the tie 3-2 in favour of the Jamaicans.
Singles victories from Rowland “Randy” Phillips and Blaise Bicknell gave hosts Jamaica a 2-0 lead over Estonia after day one of their group two Davis Cup tie at the Eric Bell National tennis Centre on Saturday.
The day’s first match of the tie saw Jamaica’s Rowland “Randy” Phillips dominate Estonia’s top ranked player Kristjan Tamm 6-1, 6-1 in just one hour to give the hosts the lead.
“Very solid and consistent on my part,” said Phillips on his performance after the match.
Phillips noted that he did not expect such a one-sided match on paper as he is currently ranked 1387 in the ATP rankings while Tamm is much higher at 663.
“It went a lot better than expected. He’s a tough opponent and maybe he didn’t play his best today but I took advantage of my opportunities,” he said.
“I think the atmosphere unsettled him. The crowd helped me out a lot and gave me energy,” he added.
With Jamaica hosting a Davis Cup tie for the first time since 2007, Phillips also spoke about what it meant to play at home.
“Extremely special. It’s a dream come true. Looking over and seeing my family and friends after points kept me locked in and focused for sure,” Phillips said.
With Phillips already in the win column, it was time for Blaise Bicknell, Jamaica’s highest ranked player at number 769 in the ATP rankings, to take the court against Kenneth Raisma who is ranked number 1640.
It was the Estonian who was in the ascendancy early, racing out to a quick 3-0 lead before taking the first set 6-4.
Bicknell was not done, however, and rallied to take the second set by a similar score before overwhelming his Estonian counterpart in the third, winning 6-0 and securing the lead for the Jamaicans heading into Sunday. The match lasted an hour and 46 minutes.
Jamaica has a chance to clinch the tie on Sunday when Phillips and Bicknell take on Raisma and Jurgen Zopp in doubles.
The 34-year-old Zopp, who retired from professional tennis in 2020, achieved a career high ATP ranking of 71 back in 2012 and reached the third round of the French Open in 2018.
The match gets underway at 1:00pm (2:00pm ECT) and can be viewed on the SportsMax TV YouTube channel.
The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced the new Board of Directors of Independence Park Limited.
The Board will be chaired by Dr. the Honourable Michael Fennell with Mr. David Shirley as Deputy Chairman.
The other members are: Mrs. Annmarie Heron, Assistant Commissioner of Police Terrence Bent, Lieutenant Colonel Eldon Morgan, Ms. Stefani Dewar, Mr. Lenford Salmon, Mr. Carlton Dennis, Ms. Audrey Chin, Mr. Edward Barnes, Dr. Peter Charles, Ms. Shaneek Clacken and Major Desmon Brown.
The Board will serve for a period of two years with effect from 16 January 2023. Independence Park Limited operates, promotes, and manages sports facilities including the National Stadium Complex and Trelawny Multi-Purpose Stadium.
For more than a decade now, Jamaica’s women have bossed the 100m. Veronica Campbell-Brown won Jamaica’s first global 100m gold medal in Osaka in 2007 and since then Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah have basically made the 100m their own with the former winning five world titles and two Olympic titles while Thompson won back to back 100m titles in Brazil in 2016 and 2021 in Tokyo, Japan where she established a new Olympic record of 10.61.
However, with their dominance of the blue-ribbon sprint at its zenith, the women from the land of wood and water seem poised to begin dominating yet another event, the 100m hurdles. Since the 1990s, Jamaica has done reasonably well at the sprint hurdles.
Michelle Freeman was the first Jamaican woman to reach a global final and eventually won won global medals in 1993 and 1997. Dionne Rose and Freeman were Jamaica's first ever Olympic finalists, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively in 1996.
The following year Freeman and Gillian Russell, a 1995 World Championships finalist, went 1-2 at the World Indoor Championships.
Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Delloreen Ennis-London picked up from them with the former winning silver at the 2003 World Championships, bronze in 2005. Ennis-London won a silver and bronze at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships respectively.
Foster-Hylton made the breakthrough at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin with a fantastic run to give Jamaica gold, Ennis-London won the bronze. Danielle Williams won Jamaica’s second 100m hurdles gold in Beijing 2015 in Beijing and followed with a bronze medal in 2019.
Two years later, Megan Tapper created history for Jamaica when she became the first-ever Jamaican woman to win a medal in the 100m hurdles at an Olympic Games when she captured bronze in Tokyo, Japan.
Then at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Britany Anderson, a finalist in Tokyo in 2021, won silver in the sprint hurdlers.
Tapper and Anderson are among a growing cadre of Jamaican female sprint hurdlers who are among the very best in the world. Among them are Ackera Nugent, the World U20 60m hurdles record holder who opened her 2023 season with a time of 8.00 indoors and Demisha Roswell, who ran a personal best 12.44 and is the fastest Jamaican woman in the world this year over the 60m hurdles with a 7.98 clocking this past weekend.
There is also hope that former national record holder Janeek Brown will make a successful return to the event this season after two years of disruption in her personal life and athletic career. Perhaps, the most talented of the lot is 17-year-old Kerrica Hill, who last year succeeded Nugent as World Under 20 champion and who recently turned professional.
In 2022, Jamaica had four of the 10 fastest women in the world. The USA also had four while Puerto Rico and Nigeria had one each.
If Jamaica’s women are to reach the pinnacle and find some level of dominance it will require a lot of technical work and consistently fast hurdling to get there but if the 100m women are anything to go by, nothing is beyond their reach.
Jamaican World 200m champion Shericka Jackson says she feels no pressure to replicate her exploits from her phenomenal 2022 season, insisting that once she is healthy, the times and performances will come naturally.
Jackson’s comments came after opening her 2023 outdoor season with a 53.11 effort to win the 400m ahead of GC Foster College’s Odeisha Nation (55.37) and Christine Cheka (55.78) at the Queen's/Grace Jackson meet at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
“For me there’s no pressure. I believe my coach and I did a very good job last year and all we have to do now is stay focused, not on other people’s expectations but his and my expectations. Once I’m healthy, I will definitely go super-fast,” Jackson said.
Jackson is coming off a phenomenal 2022 season. At the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, she sped to a personal best of 21.45 to win gold in the 200m, becoming the fastest woman alive in the process.
In addition to her 200m crown, Jackson ran a personal best 10.73 to secure second in the 100m behind teammate Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Prior to last season, Jackson said that one of her goals was to run 10.6 in the 100m, and, according to her, that has not changed.
“Last year I wanted to run 10.6 and I didn’t do that. To finish last year as the sixth-fastest ever and not run 10.6 is a great feeling. I think I have a lot more in the tank for the 100m so I just have to focus on execution and fast times will come,” she said.
Last season, Jackson also made waves on the indoor circuit, finishing sixth at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in a personal best 7.04.
On February 4, she will compete in the event at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston.
“Last year the 60m helped me improve my start. I ran 7.04 and this year I’m hoping I can go faster,” she said.
The field will be a loaded one, including 400m hurdles World and Olympic Champion and world record holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, World Indoor 60m silver medalist Mikiah Briscoe and World Championship 100m finalist Aleia Hobbs.
“It’s a good field competing so my focus is executing a good 60m,” Jackson said.
The man at the centre of a JMD$3 billion fraud investigation involving investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited, eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt on Friday declared his loyalty to Jamaica and that he is not broke despite the potential loss of an estimated US$12 million or about JMD$2 billion.
Jamaican Davis Cup Coach/Captain Mel Spence is confident that home-court advantage will be enough for his team to see off a tough challenge from Estonia in their group two qualifying fixture at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre from February 4-5.
Estonia are currently ranked 59th in the world, ten spots ahead of the Jamaicans.
“The Estonia team is very good. On paper they have some rankings that are higher than us but that’s just on paper,” Spence said at a press conference on Thursday.
"We have the home court advantage and I think that’s going to push us through,” he added.
Spence noted that the Jamaican team comprising Blaise Bicknell, Jacob Bicknell, Daniel Azar, Randy Phillips and John Chin has been performing well for a while.
“I’m very confident in them. They’ve been playing very good tennis over the last six months to a year and they’ve gelled well. It’s basically the same team that we’ve had before. We have a tough opponent ahead of us but we’ve played tough opponents before and come out on top,” he said.
While the team can’t be together until a few days before the tie, Spence noted the amount of preparation that some members of the team are getting by competing for their universities overseas.
“Within their respective teams they’ll play matches against their other teammates but they just started the season so I’d say they play an average of two matches a week against other schools. That’s plenty of preparation for them.”
21-year-old Blaise Bicknell currently represents the University of Tennessee while Chin, 19, represents Boise State University. Bicknell is currently the highest ranked Jamaican on the ATP Tour at 764.
Former West Indies and Jamaica all-rounder Chris Gayle hopes to revive his academy geared towards fostering grass-roots development in 2023.
The Chris Gayle Academy was initially launched in London in 2013 before it made its way to Jamaica in 2014, being operated at his boyhood Lucas Cricket Club under the supervision of the late coach Dennis Miller but has been dormant since the coronavirus pandemic hit.
Gayle, one of the region’s most successful cricketers in all formats of the game, hinted in an interview with OnlyCricket24.com that mismanagement has crippled his academy but said he wants to get it back on track.
“You have to be careful how you let people handle stuff,” Gayle said.
“This year I’m trying to get these things back up and running. We don’t want to see the kids go astray, so I have an academy and [we want] to assist in whatever way,” the 43-year-old added.
Other academies have launched in recent times including the 4Milla Academy, which opened in November 2021 under the tutelage of former West Indies and Jamaica spinner Nikita Miller.
The Kingston Wharves under-15 competition, a tool used to discover some of Jamaica’s top cricketers for more than three decades, has also returned in 2022 after being side-lined by the pandemic.
For the first time since 2007, Jamaica will host a Davis Cup tie when they take on Estonia in a Group 2 qualifying contest at the Eric Bell National tennis Centre from February 4-5.
“That is something we’re very proud of,” said Tennis Jamaica President John Azar at a press conference on Thursday.
“I would say that prior to 2019, the last time that Jamaica had qualified for the Group 2 qualifiers in the Davis Cup was 2009 so, in the past three years we have qualified which clearly speaks to, in my mind, hopefully we’re doing something right for the future. This event will be a first-class production,” he added.
Jamaica will be represented by Blaise Bicknell, Jacob Bicknell, Daniel Azar, Randy Phillips and John Chin and the captain/coach is Mel Spence.
“We’re confident that we have a strong team for this tie,” Azar said.
“It’s a well-balanced team of youth and experience and I’m very happy with their preparation,” he added.
The Estonian team is expected to arrive on the island next Monday while some of the Jamaican team will arrive on the island two days later due to college commitments.
While some may view this as a disadvantage, Coach Spence believes the morale of the team remains as high as ever.
“Thank God for technology. We speak to each other on a daily basis. We’re sending videos to each other of workouts that we’re doing or what our opponents may be doing. We’re keeping the vibe up so thank God for technology. We’re able to keep that bond despite being thousands of miles away from each other,” Spence said.
The matches get underway at 3:00pm Jamaica time on Saturday and 1:00pm on Sunday.
Reggae Boyz defender Damion Lowe is now a player for the Philadelphia Union in the USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS) after being acquired by the franchise in a trade with Inter Miami CF.
The trade was announced on Wednesday.
According to the franchises, in exchange for the 29-year-old Lowe, Philadelphia sent Miami $225,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM), a natural first-round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft and the Priority Homegrown Rights for Inter Miami II forward Shanyder Borgelin.
Sporting Director at Philadelphia Union is optimistic about Lowe’s arrival.
“Damion is an experienced defender who fits into our current needs,” he said.
“He’s an athletic, quick player and we expect him to be an important piece of our defensive unit as we begin a season that will require lineup and formation changes due to the unprecedented number of matches.”
Meanwhile, Inter Miami CSO and sporting director Chris Henderson, in a statement thanked Lowe for the time he spent at Inter Miami.
“We want to thank Damion for everything he’s done for Inter Miami during his time with the club and wish him the best moving forward,” he said.
At Philadelphia, Lowe joins his Reggae Boyz teammate, goalkeeper Andre Blake.
The three awards won at the recent 2022 RJRGLEANER Sports Foundation National Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year Awards have come as a boon of motivation for both athletes and members of the coaching staff of the Tornadoes Swim Club.
On Friday, January 20, three swimmers of the Kingston-based club were recipients of a national award for their successes in both swimming and triathlon over the past year.
Leading the pack in swimming is the now overseas-based,18 -year-old Sabrina Lyn, former Tornadoes Swim Club member, who copped the 2022 Female Swimmer of the Year Award following gold medal performances at the 2022 Carifta Swimming Championships where she also set a personal best time the 100m Butterfly and set a meet record in the relay.
Lyn also won gold and other medals at the inaugural Caribbean Games held in Guadeloupe and set the 200m record in the butterfly at the CCAN Swimming Championship in Barbados.
The talented young swimmer, who was recently accepted to Louisiana State University (LSU) said that receiving the award has been a “very honouring experience”. She said that she felt inspired to walk in the footsteps of Jamaica’s swimming doyenne Alia Atkinson who also received the national honour.
“This makes me feel like I am on track to represent Jamaica and my club and to walk in her footsteps on the Olympic stage,” she said.
Female Triathlete of the Year is Rihanna Gayle copped first place at the the Jamaica National Championship Triathlon and was a silver medalist in the CARIFTA Aquathlon in Bermuda last November.
Gayle also secured silver in the World Triathlon Development Regional Cup hosted in Santa Domingo in October 2022.
“It was a big motivation for me to be there at the ceremony and to be recognized among all the great athletes in Jamaica,” said the 17-year-old, who is a student at the St. Andrew High School for Girls.
“Triathlon is a unique sport, and it takes a lot of work, but I am also willing to work hard to accomplish more and to go further in the Triathlon.”
Sixteen-year-old Israel Allen, a student at Jamaica College and National Triathlon Champion, was elated to receive the Male award and is proud of his achievements in the sport.
Allen has represented Jamaica on various occasions in both competitive swimming and triathlon and has won several awards including a bronze medal for Jamaica at the 2022 CARIFTA Aquathlon.
Head Coach of the Tornadoes, Wendy Lee was in a jubilant mood following last Friday’s announcements and hailed the success of the three awardees who she says, “Have been striving towards excellence since they were eight years old.”
“These awards are indeed a physical manifestation of the hard work that we continue put in to producing Jamaica’s best aquatics athletes and as head coach, I am extremely proud of the strides that all our athletes are taking led of course by Sabrina, Rihanna, and Israel,” Lee said.
She credits the round of successes the club secured in 2022 to the holistic approach that the club takes to athlete development.
“All of our swimmers are actively pursuing big goals both in and outside of the pool,” Lee said.
“We are committed to age-appropriate training of the highest standards for all our swimmers, and we are truly honoured to continue to facilitate and nurture this tradition of excellence.”
In 2022, the Tornadoes secured victory in seven of nine local meets and are already preparing for what is expected to be continued success in 2023.
Professional tennis player John Chin is set to represent Jamaica in the upcoming Davis Cup tie for the first time since becoming a professional.
Chin, a two-time representative on Jamaica's Davis Cup team, is preparing for another Davis Cup battle on February 4-5, when Jamaica takes on Estonia on home turf.
Chin, a former top junior made a strong professional debut in the second half of last year. While still only 18 years old, he played through the qualifying round and into the semi-finals of a Men's $25,000 tournament in the Dominican Republic in his first ever professional competition.
Then in November 2022, partnering with Miles Jones of the USA, he recorded his first professional doubles win in Santo Domingo. Playing against Aydan Gomez-Osorio (Netherlands) and Kaipo Marshall of Barbados, Chin and Miles won in straight sets 6-1, 7-6.
"The transition from the junior circuit to the pro circuit is definitely a step up in skill level," says the Mandeville native who is trained locally by Ryan Russell of Russell Tennis Academy.
"It is very challenging but I will continue to work on my game and hopefully improve my ranking this year."
Having reached a Junior ITF (International Tennis Federation) career high ranking of 211, Chin hopes to eventually better that on the pro circuit.
He ended 2022 ranked 1019 on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Men's Singles pro tour.
He played his freshman year of college tennis at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in 2021-2022, where he went undefeated at 8-0 in the spring season.
MTSU ended the year ranked in the top 20 of NCAA Division 1 men's tennis. After one season with the Tennessee college Chin decided to transfer to Boise State University (BSU) in Idaho where he will wear the colours of the Broncos.
"I am looking forward to training with the Boise men's tennis team. I want to make an impact on the team and to help BSU reach our goals for the 2023 spring season and beyond." BSU's head coach Luke Shields and assistant coach Alexander Free both have excellent reputations as coaches and I expect to do well under their tutelage." says Chin.
He is one of only three Jamaican men who are currently ranked on the ATP tour. Blaise Bicknell leads the group as the highest ranked player at 764, with Chin second at 1019, followed by Rowland 'Randy' Phillips at 1398. All three men are again slated to play for Jamaica in the tie against Estonia.
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