Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • International News
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • #
    • Business
      • Business Bites
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Videos
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obits
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Elections
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
    • International News
  • Latest
  • Business
    • Business Bites
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • Videos
  • Career & Education
  • Classifieds
  • All Woman
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Elections
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Design Week
Some coaches welcome Saturday’s all-comers meet
Corey Bennett, head coach of Calabar and Hydel high school track programmes (Photo: Leo Hudson)
Athletics, Sports
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer reidp@jamaicaobserver.com  
June 16, 2021

Some coaches welcome Saturday’s all-comers meet

A number of top high school track and field coaches have welcomed this Saturday’s final All-comers meet set to be held at the National Stadium, starting at 8:00 am, as the athletes fine-tune for next week’s Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association’s (JAAA) senior and junior championships at the same venue.

Neil Harrison of Jamaica College and Michael Dyke of Edwin Allen High, the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) boys’ and girls’ champions, as well as St Jago High’s girls’ Coach Keilando Goburn have all welcomed the initiative.

The original announcement from the JAAA yesterday was for a meet geared to the Under-18 and Under-20 athletes, but that was adjusted less than an hour later to include the seniors as well.

The age-group athletes will be seeking to make teams for the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Under-18 Championships to be held in Costa Rica and the World Under-20 to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in August.

With the World Under-20 still two months away, the coaches are hoping the JAAA will continue with camps after the team is named to keep the athletes in competitive condition.

At least one top school, Hydel High, will not have any athletes at Saturday’s meet, but as Head Coach Corey Bennett told the Jamaica Observer, his athletes, having already achieved the qualifying performances for the World Under-20 Championships and with external exams set to start just a few days after the trials, needed to focus on their academics.

All the coaches agreed that while the JAAA had so far done an outstanding job of organising weekend camps for the juniors, Bennett and Goburn asked for more to be done.

Bennett called on the JAAA to “offer academic support at the weekend camps”, while Goburn also suggested that after the team to the World Under-20 was selected, the weekend camps should be held regionally and said the coaching and management staff should also be named early.

“Saturday’s meet is important,” Dyke said. “Most of the athletes would not have had a lot of opportunities to compete since Champs in May,” and while he admitted the meet was a bit close to the start of the junior championships, added, “the meet is necessary and we welcome it”.

Harrison, who joined a select group of coaches to win a major schoolboys football title and the boys’ Champs title, said, “Meets like these are always needed to keep the athletes in shape,” and said for him, “it’s not too close to the championships”.

He said the JAAA “was doing a great work with the weekend camps, there are schools that cannot afford to keep their programmes going after Champs, so this is a plus”.

Bennett added: “The few athletes that I have that will be participating at [the championships] are ready, and with exams so close, I don’t want them to lose any time with their studies.”

He argued that July will be a crucial preparation period for the athletes when they will also be involved in sitting exams and said the JAAA should think about “adding academic support” during the camps.

Goburn welcomed Saturday’s meet and said it “will be a good test, a gauge to see where we are at”, adding that the junior championships “will be more than just finishing in the top two but also getting qualifying standards”.

The St Jago High coach said with the World Under-20 still some time away, “we hope the JAAA will stay abreast of what is going on with World Athletics’ plans. If the JAAA is fully committed to keeping the athletes ready for competition, we must find creative ways to keep these camps”.

He suggested that coaching and management staff be announced early and regional camps be organised. “It makes no sense for an athlete from, say, Westmoreland, who is doing exams, have to travel to Kingston for a camp. We can have three camps each weekend, in each county.”

Each camp, he said, would have a staff of coaches, physiotherapists, and other necessary personnel. “The onus will be on the JAAA to name the staff early so they will know what they are dealing with.”

Neil Harrison of Jamaica College
Michael Dyke of Edwin Allen High School

{"website":"website"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img
0 Comments · Make a comment

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

US beat Paraguay 4-1 in dream start for World Cup co-hosts
Football, Latest News, Sports, ...
US beat Paraguay 4-1 in dream start for World Cup co-hosts
June 12, 2026
LOS ANGELES, United States  (AFP) — The United States could scarcely have scripted a better start to their World Cup as a Folarin Balogun brace and Gi...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Trump says US strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang
Latest News, News
Trump says US strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang
June 12, 2026
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said late Friday the United States has carried out a deadly strike on the leader of Tren de A...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Ralford Mullings retains discus title at NCAA Champs
Latest News, Sports
Ralford Mullings retains discus title at NCAA Champs
June 12, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s national record holder and national champion Ralford Mullings retained his NCAA men’s discus throw title after he threw ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Police Federation faces leadership change as McBean earns promotion to ASP
Latest News, News
Police Federation faces leadership change as McBean earns promotion to ASP
June 12, 2026
The Jamaica Police Federation is set to begin the process of selecting a new chairman following the promotion of its leader, Sergeant Arleen McBean, t...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
From Deed to Key’ makes successful South Florida debut
Latest News, News
From Deed to Key’ makes successful South Florida debut
June 12, 2026
FLORIDA, United States – The inaugural staging of the From Deed to Key Investment and Housing Conference in South Florida recently, has been deemed a ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Vaz highlights JUTC revenue surge, fleet upgrades as ridership climbs
Latest News, News
Vaz highlights JUTC revenue surge, fleet upgrades as ridership climbs
June 12, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Energy, Transport and Telecommunications, Daryl Vaz, says the Jamaica Urban Transit Company Limited (JUTC) is recordin...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Cash flow forecasting in minutes, not days — with Claude, even when the JMD/USD rate won’t sit still
Business, Latest News
Cash flow forecasting in minutes, not days — with Claude, even when the JMD/USD rate won’t sit still
It used to take days. Claude, the AI now built into Excel, builds a 13-week cash flow forecast and stress-tests it against every JMD/USD scenario in minutes — even for a one-person finance team
Peta-Gaye Hardy, Founder, PGH Consulting, LLC 
June 12, 2026
Ask any Jamaican importer what keeps them up at night and the answer is rarely sales. It is the gap between the day they pay their supplier in US doll...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Jamaican property sales near $100 billion in 2025, says RAJ
Latest News, News
Jamaican property sales near $100 billion in 2025, says RAJ
June 12, 2026
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Realtors Association of Jamaica (RAJ) says its Multiple Listing Service (MLS)  data shows that Jamaica’s real estate market re...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮ ❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Archives

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct