PATRON of the Collegiate Forum, Olympian Michael Frater, in delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the recently concluded Business of Sport International Conference, called for the establishment of sport academies as critical to the educational and professional development of athletes.

“So in our journey in sport let us consider in a serious way the establishment of sport academies where excellence in academia is reinforced as a foundation for personal achievement and career building,” stated Frater, the third vice-president of the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association.

These academies, Frater maintains, must include as part of their curriculum, the teaching of social and inter-personal skills in promoting integration and self-esteem as well as business ethics emphasising the value of playing the game fairly and honestly.

Frater said that through these academies, “the fundamentals of a viable sport industry of athletes, coaches, administrators, managers, policy makers, investors, marketers and sponsors, can be taught” and that if the game is to be changed successfully, “we have to revolutionise our mindset, our relationships and actions”.

The JAAA executive challenged the participants of the Collegiate Forum to make excellence their hallmark and victory an inspiring goal.