Duane Johnson, the Jamaica College (JC) athletics head coach, believes the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association’s (ISSA) transfer policy is the harshest of its kind anywhere in the world.

However, Johnson, one of the foremost middle and long-distance coaches in high school, said he recognises what ISSA is trying to achieve.

Over the years, ISSA has tightened its policy which now allows only two athletes transfers per class. The measure aims to reduce the “buying” of athletes for Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) and other high school competitions.

“The truth is that I have always expressed my dissatisfaction with how the rule is constructed,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“I do understand the need for some sort of rule to ensure that there is some parity as it relates to competition in high school. However, I do believe that the rule is a little bit excessive. I think it’s the most excessive rule you can find anywhere in the world as it relates to transfer in any sport, and specifically amateur sports. I don’t think that it’s good for the sport,” said Johnson.

“Maybe it is good for Champs in a sense where you find that if there is an athlete that is doing well at a particular school, they can remain there for the rest of the year and contribute points to their school,” he added.

The top Champs title-chasing schools, Jamaica College, Kingston College (KC) and Calabar High on the boys’ side and Edwin Allen High, Hydel High and Holmwood Technical on the girls’ side, are mostly affected.

The current framework relies on two primary mechanisms: mandatory sitting-out periods and team-wide quotas.

At first, students transferring between Jamaican member schools must sit out for one full academic year before becoming eligible for ISSA competitions, while international students transferring to local schools would walk straight into competition.

Some schools are able to circumvent that rule by going overseas to the wider Caribbean, and even as far as the African continent, to transfer student athletes to compete without sitting out a year.

This raised concern as to why local student athletes had to sit out a year, yet those from overseas did not have to.

But as of August 2024, International students transferring from institutions outside of Jamaica must also wait one year.

Over 100 student athletes from outside Jamaica are competing at the Boys’ and Girls’ Champion and now every school has to decide which two will be eligible to compete at Champs.

Just last year, KC ran afoul of the guidelines when three transfer athletes competed. One was subsequently disqualified.

There is ongoing tension among elite schools with wealthy alumni who recruit from the “smaller” schools and effectively ruin those programmes.

But Johnson argued against that, citing the benefits of moving from a school with limited resources to one that can really develop the student athlete.

“Not a lot of schools have the type of resources, facilities and expertise to develop an athlete to the next level. And so sometimes an athlete who may be doing well with the little they have, when they move to another program that is able to give more or do more for them in terms of their development, you see their flourish. Joseph Salmon, for example, is a perfect example of that,” Johnson pointed out.

Salmon was transferred from Clarendon College to Jamaica College and is now the best discus thrower in the island, looking to break into the senior team any time soon.

He won the Class One discus in 2025 and is expected to not only repeat but break the record held by Olympian Travis Smikle since 2011.

“So, I don’t think that it’s a rule that helps the sport, but I do understand where ISSA is coming from. Part of the rule that I despise is the sixth form. I don’t think that sixth-formers should be included in that rule because the truth is that some schools don’t have sixth form and a boy could choose that they want to do sixth form at another school and it shouldn’t affect them,” said Johnson.

“I also don’t like the part of the rule that includes international students as part of the same quota rule. I think that international students who is actually coming from a non-ISSA school should not be a part of the same quota rule that applies to local students who attend ISSA school. So that’s just some part of the rule that I despise,” he pointed out.

“I really do hope that good sense prevails at some point, that our principals can re-examine it and make some necessary adjustments. Because, as it is right now, I think it’s completely excessive and something that they ought to look at and see how best they can adjust it,” Johnson reiterated.

“Not saying they can’t get rid of it but just make some adjustments to some areas of it that clearly no thought was given to,” he recommended.