Dear Reader,

In a country where good news has become a scarce and delicate commodity, the picture of the Wolmer’s High School captain, Dwayne Extol, easing back to allow his teammate Julian Forte to cop the gold medal in the 200 metres final at the Boys’ and Girls’ Championships last weekend, is worth embellishing.

For me the display by the young schoolboys has revived my hope in the future of Jamaica, and should inspire all of us to be spurred to action to save our beloved country and our young people. After the race, Extol told the interviewer that he had already won one gold medal and wanted his friend to get one too. The two boys further explained that they made a pact before the race that whoever ran the curve the fastest would be allowed to win by the other. On approaching the finish line, it would have been so easy for Extol to renege on the agreement he made, especially in the face of securing another gold medal. Instead, Extol chose to live up to his word, eased up and allowed Forte to win. It was not just a lesson about friendship and loyalty. It was more important, a lesson about integrity, and one that should be an example for all of us.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Championships is a testimony to what is possible when the Jamaican people, and especially our youth, are provided with an “enabling” environment to perform and to reach their God-given potential. Jamaican youth continue to excel in track and field because the poorest child from the deepest rural hinterland of Jamaica and the most depressed urban ghetto, can get a chance to compete in the championships. One of the factors that has been encouraging for me is the growing participation and competitiveness of rural and upgraded urban schools which have for too long been treated as “lesser” beings.

There is a popular saying that it is only death that is the greatest social equaliser, but here and now in Jamaica, the Boys’ and Girls’ Champs is proving to be an equaliser of its own. While there is no doubt that there are some schools with access to more athletic resources, including better paid coaches, it is interesting to note that the schools considered the most elite and most established are not the ones winning the championships. It is important to see what happens in Jamaica when the playing field is somewhat levelled as it is with the case of Boys’ and Girls’ Champs.

There is a model emerging from the championships that is worth emulating and replicating. It is a model which demonstrates both the beauty, the bravery and the brawn of our young people. As I watched the human physiology and the competitiveness of our high school students on display, I pondered on the kind of Jamaica we have created for our young people, and questioned what type of future we are securing for them. I wondered how serious we the adults in the society are about the legacy we wish to leave for our children and grandchildren.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Champs is not just a model of what Jamaica is, but also an example of what Jamaica can be. Apart from the awesome performances of the students, the event exemplified a high level of organisational competence, most often seen in the developed world with its abundance of financial and institutional resources. Watching it on television, our national stadium resembled the ones we see in other countries, and in fact we outdid those other nations from the point of view of talent and attendance. It is truly amazing that Jamaica’s Boys’ and Girls’ Champs is the biggest high school meet in the entire world, and with the capacity to grow even bigger in the future.

One gentleman from overseas described the championships as “the most magnificent thing I have ever seen involving high school students. It’s impressive”, he remarked, “the talent here is unbelievable.” It is clear that “little” Jamaica has a lot of “big” things to offer to the world, foremost among them, a standard of athletics which others can enjoy and emulate. It is crystal clear that if we continue to “hone and tone” our aspiring young athletes the way we are doing now, our country and the world stand to be significant benefactors.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Champs should give us the hope and inspiration that we can draw on to rescue our country from the edge of its current precipice. The “freshness” and fortitude of our young people should propel all of us to stand and speak with one voice about how together we can begin an earnest and enduring process of revival and restoration. It seems to me that one way to sustain the success of the championships is for every participating company to extend its sponsorship of the schools beyond athletics to embrace a wider vision of the school community, especially parents and guardians. There is no doubt in my mind that the cumulative impact across the country would instantaneously influence the nation in a powerful way.

In the most profound way, the young people of Jamaica are showing us the example of how to fix a broken nation starting with a serious commitment of investing in the youth. The success of the championships demonstrates that what you put in is what you get , or put another way, what you sow is what you reap. If the country invests positively in the lives of our young people, it is abundantly clear that we will reap positive results. To neglect them would be to do so at our peril.

So the historic 100th year of Boys’ and Girls’ Champs has ended, but the experience lingers on. Let us hope that the love and brotherhood shown by the two talented young men from Wolmer’s will be an example and a model for all of us. It is indeed a beautiful story.

With love,

bab2609@yahoo.com