MP Miller promotes sports to drive peace in St Catherine communities
ROBERT Miller, Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Eastern, said this year’s staging of the Sports Extravaganza is aimed at fostering peace, love and unity in the communities across the constituency.
Five teams from each of the five divisions in the constituency are down to compete in football, netball, dominoes, dandy shandy (similar to dodge ball) and marbles, which will see the competitions running over eight weeks. The championships were officially launched on Sunday at Waterford High School.
Miller said the championships will help to expose potential hidden talents within the constituency because the communities are known to have produced a number of national sportsmen and women over the years.
“The aim is to unite the communities and showcase the talents that are within the communities. A lot of people don’t know that you have a lot of athletes, that represent the national teams in various disciplines, that are from South East St Catherine,” said Miller.
“You have people like Darren Mattocks, Ali Rose, Warren Wire, who attended Waterford Primary; you also have national female striker Tashana Vincent as well veteran coach [Lenworth] Lenny Hyde and you have hurdler Jaheel Hyde; and you also have national netball Head Coach [Connie Francis] that lives in the constituency,” he said.
“We are catering to the entire family, not just the males and females, because we want to cater to the kids as well. We want to unite the families so that they can come out on Sunday evening time and enjoy a sport activity,” Miller said.
He noted that after the preliminary round of the football and netball competitions there will be a one-day showcase for the dominoes, dandy shandy, and marble competitions.
“It was an encouraging atmosphere on Sunday because a lot of persons came out and we stressed discipline throughout the opening ceremony. Media personality Oral Tracey was our guest speaker.
“We had a wonderful time just seeing the family coming out and enjoying the evening and I hope that will continue throughout the tournaments,” Miller shared.
“We are using this as a social intervention tool to unite the communities and to get rid of crime and violence that have been affecting our society, and to showcase our talents,” he pointed out.
— Robert Bailey