If there was doubt in the past, there is none now that sport and recreation are integral to the physical and mental health/well being of school children while assisting their education.

As this newspaper noted in October of last year, adding to past challenges are “social media and digital devices — [which] despite their advantages — are becoming increasingly addictive and harmful”.

There’s growing alarm that “children, young people, and many who are not so young” are “spending more and more time glued to digital devices, seemingly oblivious to the world around them”.

Also, of course, professional sport, which is among the fastest-growing service sectors on the planet, is increasingly a worthwhile, lucrative career choice.

And, in Jamaica’s mostly amateur sporting environment, school remains the best available avenue for young, talented athletes to hone and nurture skills.

Such considerations largely explained continuation of Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association’s (ISSA) sporting competitions late last year — including popular schoolboy football — despite fallout from Hurricane Melissa which was among the most devastating natural disasters in this country’s recorded history.

We recall the widespread admiration when Santa Cruz-based St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), which was hit hard as the storm rampaged through western Jamaica, overcame all obstacles to win the Under-19 all-rural football title.

As we speak, ISSA’s track and field programme is picking up speed ahead of the world-leading ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) set for month-end.

And, it’s important to note that the CARIFTA Trials involving high school teenaged athletes aspiring to make the Jamaica squad for the annual CARIFTA (track and field) Games over Easter, begun on Friday (yesterday).

Other ISSA competitions, including cricket, girls’ football, Under-16 and Under-14 boys’ football and basketball are ongoing.

Traditional schools’ sport apart, we believe it’s time for ISSA and school leadership to give serious thought to formally embracing dominoes — a popular generations-old recreation for Jamaicans — at the competitive level within and among schools.

In recent years, Observer reporter Mr Ruddy Allen has played a considerable role in underlining dominoes as a tool for cognitive sustenance and social well-being in schools and communities.

In our Friday edition, Mr Allen reported that the National Association of Domino Bodies’ (NADB), through an initiative called Enhancement through Therapy is promoting dominoes at Charlie Smith High School, located in socio-economically depressed Trench Town in southern St Andrew.

Crucially, school principal Mr Christopher Wright has hailed the move as a “significant step forward” in enhancing student learning through strategic thinking and problem-solving.

Said Mr Wright: “It [dominoes] enhances long-term and short-term memory, analytical thinking, and critical thinking skills. But what’s more, it has a direct link to mathematics, teaching concepts like sets and probability in a fun and interactive way.

“So, for instance, you have seven sets of one, seven sets of two, and so on, and so if you know that five of a certain card is out there, then two must be somewhere else. If I have one, then the other person must have the other
one.”

Anyone who has ever played dominoes, or even those who simply watch, can readily testify to the truth of Mr Wright’s words.

The ball is in ISSA’s court.