Taking the violence out of Boys and Girls Champs

The experts agree that the near 100-year-old high schools athletics championship, now known as the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Champs, probably is the single most important reason for the great strength of Jamaica’s track and field. Jamaica’s athletic giants, dating back to arguably the most complete of them all, National Hero Norman Washington Manley who dominated ‘Champs’ in 1911, have honed their skills at the annual track and field festival.

Name them, they have all been there. From the legendary Olympians Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint to the likes of Donald Quarrie, Lennox Miller, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, Deon Hemmings and to our current crop that includes Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell, Sherone Simpson and Usain Bolt, every generation of Jamaican athletes has been indebted to the ISSA-run boys’ and girls’ championships.

So great has been the impact of ‘Champs’ that several countries across the Caribbean region and elsewhere now seek to replicate it. But such is the nature of culture, tradition and history that the very special atmosphere that goes with Champs will remain unique to the Jamaican version. The excitement generated by the decades-old competition involving schools such as Jamaica College, Wolmer’s, Calabar and Kingston College has to be felt to be properly appreciated.

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Unfortunately, that very excitement and intense competition have also seeded a negative aspect: sporadic violence down the years between supporters of the various schools.
Hence the decision – announced over recent days – by three of our leading boys’ schools – Jamaica College, Calabar and Kingston College – to jointly take initiatives to combat those who would disrupt the peace at Champs.

Calabar’s acting vice-principal, Mr Calvin Rowe, is reported as saying that the three schools which have dominated boys’ championships in recent years are “committed to bringing about a change .”

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March 8, 2008 | Filed Under Events and Happenings, News and Bulletins, Track and Field 

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