What of Jamaica Sport?

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Over the next three to five years, Jamaican superstar athletes will be involved in a series of global and international Games and Championships in several disciplines. Football, Cricket, Track and Field, Netball, Basketball, Swimming (diving) and Volleyball are just some of the sport that will see considerable action.

Most, if not all of the events, will take place out of the Caribbean region, which offers an opportunity for the (Brand) Jamaica to strengthen and deepen its roots in the global space.

From as long as 1948, Jamaican athletes have long established themselves as superstars and have continued to do so in traditional and non-traditional areas.

Yona Knight-Wisdom, for example, just finished second in the 3 metres British Diving competition in preparation for upcoming World Championships in South Korea (July) and European Championship in Ukraine (August) all towards aiming for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, scheduled for Japan.

Yona Knight Wisdom

The Reggae Girlz will take the field for the first time at this level on Sunday, June 9 against Brazil, in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. The Reggae Boyz are in the Gold Cup as they look to campaign for the 2022 World Cup. There is a long list of football competitions to take place in all age groups on the turf and even in the sand.

Netball heads to Liverpool this summer for what could be a great chance for the Sunshine Girls to climb to number one.

In the last quarter, track and field will dominate with the World Championships and will be the first time since Osaka (2007) that Usain Bolt won’t be competing. We wait to see what that will look, feel and sound like.

That summarizes the outward events. And from all indications, the national federations along with the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) have their work cut out for them.

JAMAICA MUST BENEFIT

What of incoming events though? And how will Jamaica benefit from earnings from the global sport industry? Time for a sport agency of known skill and repute to make this happen. We continue to skirt and dance around with the possibilities.

Time for the upgraded version of Jamaica Sport to return – an agency with skills, resources and the requisite financial backing to coordinate island sport tours, major and targeted sport events with franchises, national and international teams and personalities.

This was written some time ago – Bring back Jamaica Sport https://carolebeckford.wordpress.com/2018/09/15/bring-back-jamaica-sport/

It is time, to #CallTheGame

One Love!

Advertisements

Chris Taylor looks to return for the 2019/2020 season

The following is a statement from Christopher Taylor

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Since my last run at the Grace/ISSA Boys and Girls Championship in March this year, I discovered I have an injury which requires me to seek extensive treatment. I have decided to undergo that treatment overseas along with recovery.

At the new facility

My focus now is full recovery for the 2019/2020 track and field season.

Leading up to “Champs” a lot of misinformation has been published and I want to use this opportunity to clear the air.

• There was an incident with a teacher and members of the track team in December 2018
• At no time during that incident I made any physical contact with any teacher
• The incident was unfortunate and as the Captain of the track team at the time, I acted in the most responsible way, which I believed helped to prevent any further physical altercations

That said, I am satisfied that I have served Calabar with distinction on and off the track. I achieved a number of personal and professional goals while being a student and I want to use this opportunity to thank my family, the entire school family (past and present) and the Jamaican people at home and abroad.

Working out

While I am overseas, along with my rehabilitation process, I will also be looking at opportunities for tertiary education. As soon as more updates are available, my team will communicate the progress made.

Thanks for the continued support.

TINO BEST AND JIMMY ADAMS LEAD TEAMS FOR CHARITY

Bridgetown, Barbados – Former West Indies, fast bowler, Tino Best and former Captain, Jimmy Adams will lead two teams for a T-10 Charity match under the theme, Understanding Risk, Friday (May 31) in Barbados.

The match, which is scheduled for the 3Ws Oval at the UWI, Cave Hill Campus is part of an overall conference scheduled for the island May 27 to May 31.

Best, now a cricket commentator, will lead a team that will include outstanding retired Windies players, like Philo Wallace, Ridley Jacobs, Nixon McLean.

Adams, Director of Cricket at Cricket West Indies, will lead a team that will have among its line up Sylvester Joseph, Sherwin Campbell, Nikita Miller and Alick Athanaze.

Four of Barbados’ women’s team players, Keila Elliott, Pam Lavine, Reshelle Griffith and Charlene Taitt will also share the spotlight. Elliott and Griffith will play with Best; while Lavine and Taitt are on the team with Adams.

Best is always happy to give back and he thinks “this initiative is worthy of support.” And Adams agrees, that “any opportunity to unite the people of the region through sport, is always a wonderful opportunity.”

The rest of the line up will include a mix of local players (currently playing in the domestic competition) corporate executives and cricket enthusiasts.

The match will begin at 5pm.

About the conference

Scheduled just before the 2019 hurricane season begins, the Understanding Risk Caribbean Conference aims to celebrate the Caribbean’s disaster resilience; identify gaps that still exist; and galvanize governments, companies, and private citizens to share information, innovations and lessons learned to address disaster risk.

Understanding Risk is a global community of 8,000+ experts and practitioners active in the creation, communication, and use of disaster risk information. The community convenes every two years at UR Forums – five-day events that highlight groundbreaking work, facilitate nontraditional partnerships, and showcase new technical know-how in disaster risk identification. In the interim, regional conferences like UR Caribbean are also held to galvanize localized efforts and build regional capacity in the area of disaster risk assessment.

The partners for this event are the World Bank Group, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); European Union, Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and Barbados.

-ENDS-

Squads read:

1. Tino Best – Captain
2. Zorol Barthley
3. Tamani Best
4. Shavon Brooks
5. Shak Cumberbatch
6. Keila Elliott
7. Reshelle Griffith
8. Ronald Jackson
9. Ridley Jacobs
10. Nixon McLean
11. Philo Wallace

Other

1. Jimmy Adams – Captain
2. Alick Athanaze
3. Sherwin Campbell
4. Romi Holder
5. Sylvester Joseph
6. Pamela Lavine
7. Michael Matthews
8. Nikita Miller
9. Winston Reid
10. Kemar Smith
11. Andrew Straughn
12. Charlene Taitt

MAIN EVENT AND JFF SPECIAL PROJECTS TEAM PARTNER FOR REGGAE GIRLZ FUNDRAISER

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Main Event Entertainment Group Limited is partnering with the Special Projects Team from the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), in a show of support for the Reggae Girlz. The Lapathon/Breakfast Party Fundraiser slated for Saturday, May 18 at the Jamaica College – Ashenheim Stadium.

The lapathon/breakfast party is among one of the major activities to raise funds to support the Reggae Girlz’ campaign as they continue to prepare for the June 7 – July 7 Women’s World Cup.

While in Jamaica from May 12 to 20, there will be a series of events on and off the field for the team.  

A member of the Special Projects Team, Pat Garel, says “the campaign to the World Cup will get a boost in Jamaica this week and we want as much support as we can for the Girlz. We are hoping Jamaicans at home will see the significance and support where they can.”

Fans are required to contribute a small fee of J$1,500 and the event will combine the walk/run/wheel and will have entertainment for all from 6am – 9am. 

Participants are being asked to wear their best and most appropriate Jamaican outfit to come celebrate the Reggae Girlz. The team will make a brief stop to thank the participants at the venue.  

Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz will play Panama in Kingston on Sunday, May 19 at 6pm at the National Stadium. This will be the final home match before they head out for stops in Florida (USA), Glasgow (Scotland) and then off to France.  

Panama was the team the Reggae Girlz defeated 4-2 on penalties (October 2018) to seal their spot for the World Cup. The return match is expected to provide a thrilling encounter for fans in Kingston.  

Interested participants may send an email to reggaegirlzjamaica@gmail.com  

Kensington and Lucas Cricket Clubs – representing Rollington Town

KINGSTON, Jamaica – On Saturday, May 4 when Kensington and Lucas Cricket Clubs take the field for a Junior Cup match; the game will not only have an important result for defending champions, Kensington, but will have an all-important historical context for the roles these two sporting/cricketing clubs continue to play in the Rollington Town community.

Kensington Cricket Club

The cricket has been the core focus of the two clubs from as far back as 1879 and 1895 respectively; but when Kensington hosts its 140^th year of existence this October, the weekend event will seek to do a few things:

• Identify the role cricket has played in the community
• Show the impact all the great cricketers have had on the community, Jamaica, the West Indies and the World
• Help to re-focus the community on how it can re-engage residents to continue the path to growth and development

Lucas Cricket Club

Rollington Town sits in the Eastern Kingston constituency and is surrounded by schools and other inner-city communities all with similar characteristics – close knit families; rich sporting history, once a quiet community, but now begs basic development to include the necessities for a place to live, grow families and so business. The accessories of the place, as it is, are not sufficient to transform the legacy of a community with that much history and more.

CRICKET

Kensington for instance has had outstanding personalities like JK Holt Jr, Chester Watson, Alf Valentine, Lawrence Rowe, Herbert Chang, Richard Austin, Basil Williams, Patrick Patterson, Uton Dowe, Robert Haynes, Laurie Williams, Wavell Hinds, Darren Powell and David Bernard Jr. 

Lucas is the home of George Headley, Frank Worrell, Easton “Bull” McMorris, Everton Mattis, Gareth Breese and Chris Gayle. The immeasurable impact these men have had on cricket is what helps to consolidate the role of the game and how it may help to influence the community and cricket for the next generation.

Since 2012, Lucas has been the base of the Chris Gayle Foundation, an organization which has partnered with the England-based Cricket For Change. The resources from the partnership have been used to train at-risk young people while guiding them to become better employment prospects. Lucas is believed to have been the first club in Jamaica to admit black players in the late 1920s.

SENIOR CUP

On the occasion of the 110^th anniversary of the Senior Cup in Jamaica (2007), Historian Arnold Betram wrote this about Kensington Cricket Club:

The cricketers who registered Kensington Cricket Club in 1879 began as the St. Andrew Juniors, a group of students of St. George’s College who left with their headmaster, Father Jaeckel, to establish the Marie Villa School at 37 Duke Street, in September 1877.

Among these young cricketers were J.M. Burke, S.C. Cargill, Ernest DaCosta and Dr. J.F. Cargill, who gave a part of his property in Camperdown for their playing field. In 1881, the club moved to Emerald Park on North Street and Cosmo Lorenzo Dicks succeeded E.G. Orrett as captain. The Dicks family owned a property in St. Catherine called Kensington, hence the name change from St. Andrew Juniors to Kensington.

Coming into the competition, Kensington certainly had the most enthusiastic group of cricketers, including two of the finest young cricketers in the island, J.J. Cameron and G.V. Livingston.

In the two decades preceding the start of Senior Cup Cricket in 1897, the record shows that they played 202 matches, winning 125, losing 61 and drawing 16.

Kensington – 2019 Junior Cup Squad

Wavell Hinds captains and coaches Kensington’s Junior Cup Team. His twin sons Alex and Corey play for this team (both attend Wolmer’s). He is surrounded by a set of youngsters all aimed at balancing their lives on and off the pitch.

While Lucas will look to Brandon English, Shane Ricketts and Jaheem Rankine for leadership for this league.

The 10 am match on Saturday, May 4 should deliver on its promises of an exciting match-up; and should spark an interesting conversation concerning the clubs’ history.

See you there!

FUNDRAISER LAPATHON FOR THE REGGAE GIRLZ – Saturday, May 18

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz will play Panama in Kingston on Sunday, May 19 at 7pm at the National Stadium. This will be the final home match before they head out to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, June 7 to July 7.

The team has international friendlies in Florida (May 21 – 24) and Scotland (May 28) en route to France.

Panama was the team the Reggae Girlz defeated 4-2 on penalties (October 2018) to seal their spot for the World Cup. The return match is expected to provide a thrilling encounter for fans in Kingston.

While in Jamaica from May 12 to 20, there will be a series of events on and off the field for the team.

The Special Projects Team will be hosting a fundraising lapathon at the Jamaica College Ashenheim Stadium on Saturday, May 18 beginning at 6:30 am.

A member of the Special Projects Team, Pat Garel, says “the event is aimed at raising well-needed funds to off-set some of the costs associated with ensuring the team has all the resources needed for a secure journey onward and during the World Cup. We see this as an important event for the Jamaican fans and the Girlz.”

Fans are required to contribute a small fee of J$1,500 and the event will combine the walk/run and will have entertainment for all from 6:00 – 9:30 am

Participants are being asked to wear their best and most appropriate Jamaican outfit to come celebrate the Reggae Girlz. The team, which will have a training session that Saturday, will make a short pit stop at the venue to say thanks.

Interested participants may send an email to reggaegirlzjamaica@gmail.com fff520

JAMAICA’S REGGAE GIRLZ TO PLAY SCOTLAND IN MAY

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz will play Scotland for the first time ever on Tuesday, May 28 at the Hampden Park in Glasgow.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

This match will the last official international friendly prior to the start of the World Cup fixtures on June 9 against Brazil. The make-up for the squad will be 23.

The Scotland/Jamaica encounter will serve as a prelude to the Reggae Girlz camp which will be in France, May 29 to June 5; while the team is scheduled to get into Grenoble on June 5 as part of FIFA’s regulations.

Scotland is ranked 20^th and the Reggae Girlz 53^rd. Jamaica is drawn in Group C against Australia, Italy and Brazil; while Scotland is in Group D to play England, Argentina and Japan.

The match is scheduled for 2:35 pm (Jamaica time).