The period approaching Easter and immediately after, the most sacred on the Christian calendar, is also among the busiest for sports in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

So, with the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships completed a week ago with Edwin Allen High (girls) and Kingston College (boys) triumphant, the annual regional athletics festival, the Carifta Games, now takes centre stage.

Catering for the cream of the crop at teenage (Under-17 and Under-20) categories, the 51st Carifta Games begins this morning in St George’s, Grenada, with hundreds of athletes from across the region set to compete.

As has been the case every year for decades, Jamaica with an 80-member track and field contingent are expected to dominate competition at the Kirani James Athletics Stadium ending Monday.

Regardless of Jamaica’s expected dominance, we are certain to see high-quality talent coming to the fore from the wider region as has always been the case.

Competition is also slated to begin Saturday in the Carifta Swim Championships in The Bahamas with Jamaica represented. Also, a Jamaica team is involved in artistic swimming in Florida.

In cricket, the Jamaican schoolboy season is winding down. Excelsior High Under-19 cricketers completed a massive win over St Jago High midweek to claim the urban-based ISSA/Grace Shield.

Excelsior will now await the completion of the rural area ISSA/Grace Headley Cup to know their opponents in the all-island Spalding Cup play-off.

Defending Headley Cup and Spalding Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical High School, May Day High, Manchester High, and Clarendon College are into the semi-finals of the rural tournament.

At the regional level, the West Indies Under-15 cricket championship started earlier this week. Rain had the last word in Jamaica’s opening game, while they lost by seven wickets to the Windward Islands on Thursday.

And earlier this week, Jamaica’s women cricketers took the regional double, returning home triumphant after dominating the CG United Women’s Super50 Cup and the T20 Blaze.

In the Super50, the Jamaicans won four of their five matches, accumulating 24 points, ahead of Guyana (18), Windward Islands (16), Barbados (14), Trinidad & Tobago (four), and Leeward Islands (two).

In the T20s, the Jamaicans won all their games with some style.

We note from the senior national women’s coach, Mr Shane Brooks, that success was the end product of physical fitness, careful preparation, meticulous planning, and hard work.

It followed a disappointing regional season last year and a determination by the players that they would transform their performance.

“I had no doubt in my mind Jamaica would have won the double,” said Mr Brooks.

“We have the quality, we were well drilled, we were well-prepared, and mentally we were in a very good place and space,” he said.

Added Mr Brooks: “I believe that when a team is prepared well they will definitely play well…”

Well said, we say.

Indeed, we believe that hard work and thorough preparation should be a mantra not just for sport but all human endeavour.