SSP Diaries | The 2025 Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships reveal

HEARTIEST CONGRATULATIONS to all the schools and students that competed this year and particularly Kingston College and Hydel High School for being crowned the Boys and Girls Champions, respectively. The contest was exciting, dramatic as well as controversial at times, especially with the way some athletes were disqualified, then reinstated. It’s likely that that debate will rage for quite some time and certainly until the commencement of the 2026 serial of championships.

There is another side to the development of athletics in Jamaica. From the little that I was able to watch of the eagerly contested events at the National Stadium, a few things stood out. It appears that our schools now attract a significant percentage of students from overseas. Two geographical areas stand out, namely, the rest of the Caribbean region and Africa. Prior to this year’s event, I was mindful of the increase in demand for students from other Caribbean nations and the recent achievements of the St Lucian female sprinter, Julien Alfred, that won the 100 metres at the last Olympics in Paris, surprising many and making her country and the region proud. She was schooled in Jamaica and trained for her event locally.

What seems not to be well known is the number of students from Africa who are athletically minded and attracted to our high school programmes in Jamaica. Our high school improvements noted in recent times in the long-distance events can be attributed to a number of these ‘importations’. I surmise that this has helped to drive interest in difficult and extreme stamina-related events such as the decathlon, which, over the years, has been receiving increased interest.

POSITIVE IMPROVEMENT ACROSS THE BOARD

The attraction of students from overseas can only serve to better the Jamaican athletic product and expose more of our coaching talent to the world. Without going into specifics, it is obvious that there is positive improvement across the board, whether in track or field events. Our own local athletes are themselves very serious about their training regimes, not to mention the traditional buzz of inter-school rivalry and the hype that this brings each year.

In saying that, one cannot write without mentioning the obvious increases being experienced in interest, and the presence, of our own diaspora at the championships each year. This type of activity is likely to continue in the future, as it’s encouraged by the fact that our high school athletes are continuously running faster, jumping higher, throwing farther distances, taking on and doing well in non-traditional areas, etc. Additionally, and most notably, they are interviewing much better than ever before!

These are things that do not just happen overnight. Jamaica’s investment in the G.C. Foster College should now be recognised as one of its best since Independence. G.C. Foster has produced people who have since developed their trade to become some of the most capable and sought-after coaches across all sports genres, internationally. Our high school athletes are today the benefactors of this investment in sports, and we should aptly recognise the institution for its achievements over the years. This institution is at the foundation of Jamaica’s success story. It has allowed our high schools to have properly trained, qualified and experienced coaching staff at their disposal, and situated sports as a fundamental part of a student’s development in his/her formative years.

WHOLESOME DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

These improvements and trends are all good, but one hopes that certain critical requirements are not lost in our education system. Whereas there is a direct correlation between the playing of sports and the wholesome development of the student, the system has a responsibility to ensure that the focus on education achievement for all students remains an ultimate responsibility. As talented as one is in sports today, a solid education goes a far way in ensuring the realisation of one’s potential and their ability to navigate life.

In today’s world where athletes can commit their lives to a sport, the ability to endure life as a sports figure diminishes significantly without education and proper management. Sports today is a way of life for many. However, it does not last forever. There comes a time when one must retire from such activities and without proper management, education and investments for the future, athletes could be left desolate. There are many examples of such people. Producing a sportsperson, and allowing such a person to transition through school without a rounded education, is just not on and should not be allowed in our educational system today. This is tantamount to cruelty.

One would like to think that Jamaica has gone past those dark days in our history and there is a mechanism in place to protect the athlete, not one that causes him/her to be exploited, whether on our shores or while on scholarship overseas. Such a ‘policy’ must be put in place, if it’s not there already, to ensure the authenticity and longevity of Brand Jamaica. It will help ensure that the efforts and struggles of icons like Merlene Ottey, Donald Quarrie, Bertland Cameron, Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, Deon Hemmings, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt, to name a few, to put us and keep us on the world stage are not in vain.

The recent championships will have opened the eyes of many to the potential that Jamaica has, and can realise in the future. It is phenomenal. It will not get there of its own accord, but must be protected and nourished. It speaks of opportunities for all; it levels the playing field; it is driven by a thirst to succeed and be better than one’s predecessors; it allows good positive interactions across all high schools, and has become an internationally sought-after product. It must be maintained and allowed to flourish in a properly structured environment that allows sportspersons, as well as the supporting public, to feel proud throughout life.

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