The annual Boys’ and Girls’ Championships, more popularly called Champs, has introduced tens of thousands of student athletes to the national spotlight in its 111-year history, with many of them moving on to become successful professionals in not only track and field, but across a wide range of industries.

These individuals distinguished themselves on the track and in the field for their respective schools and have continued to make their mark as adults in the professional world, some of them having used the sport as a vehicle to advance themselves in the scholarly world beyond high school through scholarships to top universities overseas that they would have otherwise not been able to afford.

OBSERVER ONLINE captured the Champs stories of some of these individuals.

DON WEHBY — CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO) GRACEKENNEDY LIMITED

SCHOOL — St George’s College

EVENTS — 110 metres hurdles, 400 metres hurdles, 100 metres and 200 metres

PERFORMANCE — Gold in Class Three 100 metres hurdles, silver in Class Two 110 metres hurdles, silver in Class Two 110 metres hurdles, silver in Class Two 400 metres hurdles

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — In (winning) Class Three, I was young. Lennox Graham, who is now a hurdles coach and Charles Sinclair, who is now in the senate with me, were in the race. It was a very close race, but I remember it very well that I won but I won dipping down so it wasn’t an easy victory. Winning is good but I want to say, that that second in the 400 metres hurdles meant more to me than that win.

Champs is a life-changing experience. I used to get up twice a week as a youth, as a teenager and I would go out, Carlos Lopez and Mr (Vinton) Powell, would take the track team out by the lighthouse in Palisadoes and we ran seven miles on the sand, from the top of Harbour View right down to the lighthouse, every morning as a youth, so we had to get up from 5:00 and that discipline itself, in terms of time management, was life-changing for me and I still have that sort of a discipline because of track and field as I run one of the largest companies in Jamaica or the largest company in Jamaica. So it’s a discipline.

Then the day itself, it teaches how to handle pressure because as a youth, when I was 15, 16 and there were 32,000 people and I had to perform in front of them, it taught me how to handle pressure and that is extremely important.

All sport teaches teamwork and you can’t be a corporate leader unless you have a good team around you and the best people, as I always say team means Together Everybody Achieves More.

So whether you are running on a relay team, or you’re playing a cricket game and who catches the ball or not, that’s a discipline, that’s a characteristic that stays with you for all your life and it teaches you how to communicate to your peers.

DR NELSON CHRISTIAN STOKES — CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF NCS ENTERPRISE AND PRESIDENT OF THE JAMAICA BOBSLEIGH AND SKELETON FEDERATION

SCHOOL — Calabar, Cornwall College and Munro College

EVENTS — 100 and 200 metres

PERFORMANCE — Silver for Calabar in Class Three 4×100 metres, bronze for Cornwall College in Class Two 100 metres and gold for Munro College in the Class One 100 metres

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — I love track. I made a lot of good lifelong friends and had the opportunity to not only win a championship myself as an individual but also be part of a team that won a championship for Calabar at the same time that I won the silver medal in the 4×100 metres.

Running for Calabar is a different experience than Cornwall. I ran for Cornwall and Munro, people respected you because of your speed. It’s a different duty, a different responsibility, a different vibe, different energy when you are running for Calabar.

To run to the roar of the crowd, knowing that there is a good 40 per cent of the people in the stands are cheering for you, it’s just really a different experience. I always have jitters, especially when running. That was different than jitters, that was more of ‘I can’t let these guys down’. Jitter is a personal thing but the idea, ‘you can’t let the team down, you can’t let the school down’, the utmost for the highest was just an entirely different energy.

In all the business classes I took, the economics classes I took, doing a Bachelors of Science in Finance, an MBA in Finance, doing a PhD in Economic Policy, nothing teaches you to take a punch to the gut, to fail, to be disappointed and have to get up and go to training on Monday morning and race the following Saturday.

Track and field gave me that and that’s a skill that you need in life because life is hard, living is hard and life punches you in the gut and they don’t teach you that in school. I learned that on the track and I learned that in sport.

ROBERT MILLER — MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR SOUTH EAST ST CATHERINE, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ARMOSET SECURITY SERVICES, LECTURER OF MARKETING, MASS COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION, NCU, CMU AND VTDI

SCHOOL — Bridgeport High School

EVENT — Discus

PERFORMANCE — Placed out of the final

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — I threw the discus because I loved my alma mater and the school was not in line in terms of track and field at the point in time, as Bridgeport High School was a developing high school, so it wasn’t in line in terms of the resources that were needed, in terms of a specialised coach for the discipline that I needed assistance with and in terms of the culture of Boys’ and Girls’ Championships.

Back then (there were) World Youth representatives in the discipline that I participated in at Boys’ and Girls’ Championships in the discus Class One.

When I saw those guys entering the field and warming up and doing their throws and the distance at that time, I was scared in the boots but I remembered the blue, white and red, Bridgeport High School and I wanted to ensure that I put my best foot forward.

I was also the captain of the team as well and I just wanted to represent my school, I just wanted to do well. It was good for me and It was good for my resume also though I was not in line with some of the greats, it was something that I always wanted to do – represent my school.

I have always told people why Jamaica as a country has done well in many disciplines – it’s because of the competitiveness. Even in politics that competitive spirit assisted me a whole lot in terms of where I am today.

So it (track and field) has assisted me a whole lot and has taught me a lot of stuff and I have tasted defeat then, because I did not win discus at Boys’ and Girls’ Championships and there is only reward for winners.

ALLIE MCNAB — CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO) OF VISUAL VIBE JAMAICA AND ADVISOR TO THE MINISTER OF SPORTS OLIVIA ‘BABSY’ GRANGE

SCHOOL — Cornwall College

EVENTS — 100 yards, 200 yards and long jump

PERFORMANCE — Gold in the 100 yards and silver in both the long jump and 200 yards

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — The Champs experience is indescribable. I had the good fortune in 1966 to have won the hundred yards. I came second in the long jump and 200 yards and my points tally made me become what they called a champion boy athlete. So I had great memories of Boys’ and Girls’ Champs.

That year also saw me improving my time when they changed to metres. I became the champion 100-metre schoolboy sprinter of the Caribbean. I went down the islands, I beat everybody in Trinidad, everybody in Barbados, everybody in Guyana and so I was the Caribbean sprint schoolboy champion as well in 1966 with a time of 10.5 seconds.

I am not sure, every athlete goes in expecting that they are going to win. I had done my preparation, I had been training really hard and concentrating and dedicating myself to track and field more so than football at the time and it paid dividends and I am happy that it’s part of my resume.

The discipline of sports that is implored in being at the top, the discipline that you have to endure, you take it to the business field, it’s about hard work, planning, execution and a never-say-die attitude and I think I have taken that to the corporate world, which has brought me a fair bit of success.

ANDREW PRICE — MARKETING CONSULTANT AND FOOTBALL COACH

SCHOOL — St George’s College

EVENTS — Long and high jump

PERFORMANCE — Bronze in Class Two long jump and fifth in Class Two high jump

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — Yes, it was a nice memory that I had as after the schoolboy (football) season I started to train for the long jump and I was able to get a bronze medal at Champs that year.

I was good at jumps because I even did high jump at that same Champs and I came fifth in the high jump. I was just good at jumping strongly because as a defender I had to try and outjump people so I was a pretty good jumper.

I had enough speed on the runway to run up and jump so it was something that I did and I later graduated into Class One and made the triple jump and long jump final. It was something that I did in prep school so I just carried it over.

Competing at Champs was a good experience. I was one of those student athletes that every particular season I had to be active, so when it was not football, I would be doing track and field, when it wasn’t track and field I would be playing cricket.

So I was just very active and I had a lot of time for extracurricular activities at school, in addition to doing schoolwork because I needed to be a rounded individual and I think that helped me in life to be a rounded individual to both participate in sports and do my schoolwork and this has helped me, even at the corporate level.

PROFESSOR TREVOR MUNROE — LECTURER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES AND HEAD OF THE NATIONAL INTEGRITY ACTION

SCHOOL — St George’s College

EVENTS — 220 yards and 120 yards hurdles

PERFORMANCE — Silver in Class Two 220 yards, bronze in Class Two 4×110 yards and fourth in Class Two 120 yards hurdles

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — It was a premier achievement. It was the aspiration of every athlete to represent their school at Champs, and more importantly, to medal, and even more importantly, to get the most points for his school. So I felt very elated by that achievement.

There were jitters, but you had to focus on the track ahead and the tape and not be distracted by the crowd – or sometimes pay a price – lose gold for silver, as I learned.

Track and field provided a truly amazing foundation and taught the critical importance of training, preparing mind and body, of hard work, performing well, to stay the course. No shortcuts! For the sprinter, we prepare, day in day out, months after months – minimum of three to four months, year after year for a performance time, more often than not for a few seconds on Sports Day or at Champs. Buju is on target: Behind the ‘glitter and the glamour…..not an easy road ‘.

It also taught focus, focus and more focus. When you line up for the start, no distraction from the responsibility at hand, even for other important tasks. ‘On your marks!’ teaches the sprinter to block out the sound of the crowd, put aside any thoughts about admittedly other important matters, concentrate on ‘get set’ and when the starter’s gun goes, concentrate on doing the right thing, getting out of the blocks neither too early nor too late, getting into stride, putting into action what we have been practicing for months.

Particularly the sprint hurdles teach (you) to identify missteps quickly, self-correct promptly, keep going, learn from mistakes, and don’t stop, give up, turn back. If we hit the second hurdle, we have a split second — within three strides —to figure out what went wrong, rectify and not be thrown off course from scaling hurdle three and the remaining barriers heading for the tape.

Sprint relay taught me the value of teamwork. No matter how good we may be as an individual, success depends on training together, empathy with team members, passing the baton smoothly, and helping one another. You alone can never run all the ‘relay legs’ of work or life!

So track and field helped prepare me to work hard, focus on the responsibility at hand and be resilient in the face of adversity.

DR DENNIS MINOTT — CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER A QUEST, ENGINEERING CONSULTANT AND SCIENTIST

SCHOOL — Kingston College

EVENTS — 220 yards, 120 yards hurdles, long jump and high jump.

PERFORMANCE — Silver in Class Two 220 yards, bronze in Class Two 4×110 yards and fourth in Class Two 120 yards hurdles

HIS MEMORY OF CHAMPS — I represented Kingston College in the late ’50s and definitely early ’60s. I did long and high jumps and I did sprints, especially sprint relays.

First of all, most of us couldn’t compete at the National Stadium, it didn’t exist at the time, it was at Sabina Park and I remember, for example in the Class Three 4×100 relay, the crowd went wild. Of course, it did motivate us. We were much closer to the crowd at Sabina Park in those days, the crowd in the bleachers, than we were at the National Stadium.

Track and field taught me very well, it taught me how to compete, how to take losses and it taught me how to prepare. One of the things that have made me personally have a certain measure of success, is the tendency to be very on time and to do things regularly.

I carried it forward. In university, I ended up being the captain of the university team in athletics and in shooting, that sort of thing. I was quite a stickler for being on time and participating wholly with the team.

The good thing about KC is it taught me to be very on time, to be very organised and to execute bearing in mind what we had to practice for and also eating for performance. Also, definitely team spirit. Although many of us were doing individual events, there was a team spirit to what we were doing and then of course in relays, we practice and I do believe strongly in practice.

I don’t really have as much respect for people who just ad-lib and get things done. That’s alright, but it’s much better to me, we get much more done when you work as a team.