THE GC Foster College on Monday announced the introduction of two new diploma courses, as well as the revamping of another programme as they seek to better facilitate the increase in demand for Physical Education (PE) and Sports across the island.

Speaker at the official launch at its base off Walks Road in St Catherine, lecturer Marcia Swyer-Forbes told the Observer the growth in participation in sports has led GC Foster to make changes.

“We’re having the launch of two new programmes: the Diploma in Sports Massage Therapy and Diploma in Sports Fitness Instruction, and we have also revamped the Diploma in Coaching. It (the addition of the programmes) came out of a need that we saw from years ago.

“… We had the World Junior Games in 2002 we could not find trained sports massage therapists so we realised that something had to be done and we started our short programmes,” Swyer-Forbes said.

She explained that, inevitably, those short programmes, which started in 2004, had to be expanded to match the growing demand for such disciplines.

“We have reached the point where, because of the large amounts of athletes we are producing, we needed to be training persons to support these athletes and we felt it timely to go out into these longer programmes. So presently, the sports massage therapists and sports fitness instructors will offer that support,” Swyer-Forbes said.

The college, which is now in its 30th year as a proponent of teaching PE and Sports, has already enrolled 20 persons in the fitness programme and another 17 in the massage course. Over 60 persons are currently doing the coaching programme.

The only institution of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, GC Foster has also been a dominant force in the local inter-collegiate circuit, with a number of Jamaica’s top athletes donning their colours annually.