The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The Government Secondary School Sports Association is already looking ahead to the next sport on its calendar as athletics prepares to take centre stage.

The GSSSA will its 27th annual track and field meet, February 26 - 28 at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium, under the theme, “One Team, One Vision, United in Athletic Success.”

“This is our 27th annual event and we are promising three days of competition,” GSSSA President Varel Davis said, “Our athletes have been working very hard the last few months preparing ourselves. Will CV Bethel repeat as champions? Will CR Walker repeat as champions? Whatever happens we promise a very exciting meet so please come out, old scholars, parents, fans, coaches, we look forward to a packed stadium so please come out and support the student athletes.”

Organisers also announced a major change in the age range for the junior school athletes.

According to GSSSA meet schedule director, Fritz Grant, the decision was made to include the widest range of athletes.

“This year we have made some changes that will affect primarily the junior high school athletes. Last year our divisions were U15 and U13 but this year we are now U16 and U14. We think we would have left out a number of our athletes so it was a collective effort by the coaches and principles of the junior high school to come to this decision. The Bantam will be U14 and the Juniors will be U16 which means you will have a bigger pool to choose from to compete. So expect some exciting competition from juniors. Seniors are still U20 and U17,” Grant said.

“The junior high school you start from 12 and up, the World Athletics they go from December 31 to September so that means we will have a lot of persons that will be turning 13 in grade seven, and what happened is that the number of schools found out that pool of athletes is very small. One thing in track and field we don’t want to do is burn out athletes having them run four or five events, so we decided upon this change. It will also be less stress on coaches finding athletes to compete. We want a quality meet and the best performances possible.”

He is expecting record-breaking performances and hopefully some qualifiers for CARIFTA and other national teams as well.

“From day one there is exciting action with 100m finals so we will hast fast action. We are looking for qualifications for CARIFTA and other national teams, so anticipation is there and we look forward to an outstanding,” Grant said, “The GSSSA has a cross country programme and even sprinters participated to start their year. The athletes have been preparing themselves at the club meets on weekends, so they have sharpened their skills and from what we have seen so far, it will be very competitive among the schools this year. We are looking for persons to qualify for CARIFTA and make some national teams.”

At the 2019 meet, the C.R. Walker Knights emerged as champions of the senior division. The finished the three-day event with 654.50 total points. C.I. Gibson was second with 550, C.V. Bethel had 391.50, followed by R.M. Bailey (339.50), Doris Johnson (338.50), C.C. Sweeting (186), Government High (156.50) and Anatol Rodgers (88.50).

On the junior side, the Raptors won the meet with 508 points. A.F. Adderley was second with 440.5 points, followed by H.O. Nash with 309, S.C. McPherson had 258 and D.W. Davis rounded out the top five with 206.50. L.W. Young came sixth with 183 and T.A Thompson and Anatol Rodgers were seventh and eighth with 119 and 99 points respectively.

“It is indeed our pleasure to provide an avenue that are students can see the building of the next generation through competition and camaraderie among our athletes. We decided to bridge the gap that fuses our desire to not only place our athletes on the global stage but also ultimately become world class athletes,” Clara Storr, Education Officer for Physical Education in high schools said, “We desire to host a safe well rounded meet that all can enjoy and we are definitely inviting the community at large to become a part of this.”

General Manager of the National Sports Authority (NSA) Quinton Brennen said as a former track and field athlete, this meet is special and personal for him because he wants to see that pride back in the schools.

“I want to see the sport of track and field continuously grow and see us bring that pride of track and field back here in our schools – albeit the junior or senior high school level. Now that we are getting to the point where we are inviting the parents and family and friends to come out to bring the excitement back, this is something that we are so excited about,” he said.