WITH a strong commitment to developing and preserving sports in Jamaica at all levels, telecommunications company, Digicel recently made a donation of $100,000 in track and field apparel to students at Papine High School. The presentation was made to the students on Monday.

Among the students who were utterly overjoyed was Tiffany James, the school’s top athlete, who said, “These gear mean so much to my teammates and I, it’s not just about how we look, but it makes us feel more like a team and that will boost our confidence when we go out there to compete.”

In the meantime, Papine coach Shanikie Osbourne said: “I wasn’t sure how I would be able to afford the gear for upcoming track meets, so Digicel stepping in is nothing short of perfect timing. The team was in high spirits when they saw the gear.”

Osbourne said she is expecting her athletes to make their school proud during the track and field season. “Tiffany, who won the school’s first ever gold medal at Champs in 2012 in the Class Three girls’ 400m, is expected to lead her school to victory again this year. I am also expecting Candice McLeod to do well in the 400m and 400m hurdles, as well as Tajay Gayle in the jumps.”

Both the coach and the track students were graduates in the Digicel/MVP Grassroots Athletic Programme, which was hosted earlier this year.

Tahnida Nunes, senior sponsorship manager at Digicel, shared that, “Sports remains a huge focus for Digicel because we understand the critical role it plays in developing our young people and we understand that sports is a catalyst for nation building. So we are especially pleased to see that students and coaches who graduated from our grassroots athletic programme can move on to bigger and better competitions at the national and even international levels.”