UTech sports to benefit from MOU signing

Athletes from the University of Technology (UTech), the sporting community, both locally and abroad, as well as the general public, stand to benefit from Thursday's signing of two memoranda of understanding (MOU) at Lillian's Restaurant on the campus at Papine in St Andrew.

The MOUs were signed between UTech, the Heart Institute of the Caribbean (HIC) and the Winchester Surgical and Medical Institute (WSMI) to explore opportunities for collaboration in a variety of areas related to research, academic programmes and training.

Anthony Davis, director of sports at UTech, said the university's sports administrators will benefit directly by being able to screen and test their athletes before, during and post-training season.

He added: "This will assist us by having screen tests for our athletes before they actually start training, and while they are training, if anybody develops any problem, then we can have them assessed and the appropriate remedy designed for them. It is just another step to ensure that we have a total support system for our student athletes."

Professor Errol Morrison, president of UTech, highlighted the benefits to be gained from the signing of the MOUs between the organisations.

"We want to ensure that not only have we established a faculty that will study the scientific underpinning of sports and sports performance, sports management and the business of sports, but we want to ensure that our athletes are in the best possible condition as well."

The signing of the MOUs comes against the background of the establishment of the Caribbean School of Sport Science, which will begin classes soon with more than 75 students, according to Dr Colin Gyles, acting dean of the Faculty of Science and Sport. Already, the faculty has seen an oversubscription of applications and will have a waiting list when classes begin next month.

Centre of excellence

The HIC is the premier centre of excellence for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the Caribbean. Under the MOU arrangements, both institutions will share joint information on research and programmes in cardiovascular medicine and sports physiology.

The WSMI is a one-stop health-care facility - the only one of its kind in the Caribbean -offering a wide range of surgical and medical services, with specialisation in ambulatory surgery. Under the memorandum of understanding arrangements with UTech, the institutions will cooperate on matters related to sports science, instructional delivery, surgical and medical management.