JAMAICA Olympic Association President Christopher Samuda says despite outstanding performances at the recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica’s sports infrastructure is still in need of improvement.

Jamaica won 19 medals at the Commonwealth Games, all but one coming in track and field, and 11 at the CAC Games, despite the absence of the country’s top track and field stars. Samuda says the country has shown that it is still producing talent that will replace the already established athletes in due time.

Samuda says it is time to take the vision a step further.

“Both games demonstrated that we have established and emerging talents. Both management teams showed that we have undoubtedly the expertise in professionally delivering games,” he said in a release, adding: “We must now articulate an indoor and outdoor vision and concretise that vision in brick and mortar in incubating and ultimately actualising talent.”

He said the facilities used for the games in Santo Domingo and Glasgow highlighted the need for Jamaica to improve its sporting infrastructure.

“The games in Santo Domingo and Glasgow have ended, and as I reflect on the facilities of both, what becomes evident is that as a country, we will not be able to optimise talent across the spectrum of sport and commercialise sport into an industry unless we improve dramatically the physical infrastructure of sport.

“Modern and functional sporting facilities are the training and conditioning grounds for talent matriculation and success. Centres with appropriate amenities and managed by people certified in profession of facility management and with business competencies, provide access and are venues for grassroots development initiatives and community sport, both of which provide a talent pool,” Samuda said.

He reasoned that development cannot be the job of any single sector but must be a joint effort.

SAMUDA…infrastructural development as well as a national investment strategy must be driven by private and public sector leadership and capital, particularly if the business of sport is to give us dividends (Photo: Naphtali Junior)

“Infrastructural development as well as a national investment strategy must be driven by private and public sector leadership and capital particularly if the business of sport is to give us dividends. We brought and delivered capital to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and achieved greater breadth in our medal haul across the spectrum of sports at the CAC Games.

“More work, however, has to be done, and an essential element of a workman’s toolkit in sport is a proper facility in which to train and ply his or her trade,” the release said.

“Bilateral and multi-partnerships are, customarily, the vehicles utilised for capital investment in sport and skilled strategists will understand that grant funding will sweeten the pot. Whatever is the framework, the outcome must be a network of proper facilities that allows, as it were, Johnny and his brothers and sisters to play and achieve.”

Samuda, who is also president of the Jamaica Paralympic Association, said discussions have already started towards the construction of a centre of excellence.

“Through a relationship with the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, we, at the Jamaica Paralympic Association, brokered discussions regarding the construction of a high-performance indoor multi-sport Paralympic complex that will also serve as an Olympic hunting ground and which will be able to accommodate pursuits in a myriad of sports including basketball, netball, badminton, volleyball, judo, taekwondo, karate, fencing, handball and teqball.”

He said this could be an example for others to follow, adding that with the 2027 Lima Pan American Games looming on the horizon, evaluations of past events will provide signposts not only for competitive sports but also for the business of sports.

He said putting in the necessary infrastructure could lead to more gains, both on and off the playing fields.

This he said was the “blueprint which, with the support of the public and private support and funding, can become central to the infrastructure architecture of sport”, saying also, “Games are the end product but if we are to earn prowess and a global reputation in a multiplicity of sports, we must break ground for sport centres and create pipelines of generational talent.”