IF Jamaica’s sporting achievement is the crown of a small nation, then the annual Boys and Girls Champs is a precious jewel that must be treated as an indigenous product and a national treasure as it continues to be the envy of the world.

Over time, our success in track and field has been a lesson in possibilities for a country with limited financial resources, yet rich in personal and national pride, natural ability and the impetus to succeed.

As the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) celebrates 100 years of this phenomenon called ‘Champs’, the accomplishments over the years would have been almost too numerous to mention, yet has been fittingly and effectively captured in a book that was recently launched in Kingston.

Our enthusiasm for track and field cuts across many generations, with the rivalry among athletes seeking glory for their school continuing unabated and thankfully, providing an outlet for energetic teenagers who could have been otherwise engaged.

And as the global fraternity last week descended upon the island for a first-hand look at the biggest meet of its kind in the world, and while the spectacle ebbed and flowed before an awestruck National Stadium, they included representatives from South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States — the latter two most notably in the form of Ato Boldon and Lauryn Williams.

Of course, the presence of the foreign press, and most conspicuously, personnel from the BBC, underscores the eminence of the meet and the fact that Jamaica is sitting on a gold mine of what can ultimately be achieved with this extremely marketable product.

For notoriously, we as a people take too much for granted and unfortunately, tend to drop the baton at crucial stages of our development — as the JFF did by failing to implement sustainable programmes following its qualification to the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finals.

But hopefully, there is little danger of that happening in the sport of athletics, which at this juncture is enjoying such popularity that it is threatening to upstage football as the sport of choice among Jamaican youngsters.

At a time when technology is at an unprecedented level of sophistication and adolescents have a plethora of alternatives, the stakeholders must be credited for ‘selling’ the idea of track and field as a pasttime which may ultimately be pursued as a lucrative career.

And yet, I would have hoped to see, at least by now, a concerted effort made by ISSA to aggressively market the Champs product overseas by offering television channels in the USA, Europe and even faraway Australia, the opportunity to broadcast this fantastic product to a wider global audience.

This is said even within the context that there has reportedly been live reports streamed into the USA by a local television station.

In effect, the local governing body for high school sports would be stepping outside of its comfort zone — which is necessary if one is to be distinguished in any endeavour — while generating funds and providing more visibility for Jamaica, which hinges on tourism for its economic survival.

This is certainly not a pipe dream, and even though it would almost certainly be the first of its kind, the idea of being trailblazers should certainly not be a deterrent.

The truth is that if at no other time in our nation’s history, especially following the exploits of Beijing and Berlin, Jamaica is now perfectly positioned to offer an authentic top-class product to the world, simultaneously giving that much sought-after insight into our athletics that the international community has been clamouring for.

Finally, such a venture would probably necessitate a change of policy within an amateur organisation such as ISSA. But considering the fact that athletics is the only consistent income-earner for the hard-working body that comprises mostly school administrators, the time to generate serious funds to finance the other sports that the over 200 schools under its aegis compete in, is certainly at hand.