The explanation for Jamaica’s success in international athletics is complex. Some of it is due to a genetic blessing from Africa blended with one positive outcome from the blight of slavery. Then there are at least 2 important contributions from the education sector. Gluing it all together is Champs, the 107-year-old meeting of the island’s high schools in a team competition on the track and in the field. Its full name is Boys and Girls Championships and it is an event that captivates like no other. From Arthur Wint, Jamaica’s first Olympic champion to the incomparable Usain Bolt, the country’s heroes and heroines wet their appetite for domination at Champs. They race, jump and throw with the backing of loyal past students, expert coaches and diligent teachers.
The extravaganza started in 1910 with a handful of boys schools and after fits and starts with a distaff version, Girls Championships has been held consistently since 1957. A major change, of course, happened 19 years ago when Boys Championships and Girls Championships merged to form a super Champs in 1999. Today, Boys and Girls Championships draw fans from all over the world and not just in person. Thanks to the Internet, fans and Jamaicans in the diaspora tune in and watch every dash and distance. It now takes 5 days to decide which school team is the best in the nation. The top teams now are Wint’s alma mater, Calabar High School, which is riding a streak of six straight wins and Edwin Allen Comprehensive High School, the Frankfield institution, has 4 wins on the trot and 5 in six years.
Ewin Allen Comprehensive High School
Historically, Kingston College and Vere Technical High School are the King and Queen pins of Champs. Kingston College revolutionised the preparation of high school athletes in the nineteen sixties and reaped the benefits with the start of a 14 year winning streak from 1962 to 1975. Vere, a mass producer of champions, won from 1979 to 1993. Kingston College and Vere have the most Champs win overall too, with 31 and 22 victories respectively. Schooled by expert coaches who are often graduates of the 38-year-old GC Foster College for Physical Education and Sport, the athletes generate excitement. Since 1963, when Champs moved from Sabina Park to the National Stadium, they’ve been on centre stage in March each year. With that cathedral of sport full of its 30,000 seat capacity, the young athletes test their ability, preparation and their nerve.
The athletes are a special creation. Their forebears came from Africa an unrivalled blessing of fast twitch fibres which is the fuel of sprinting and the throws. Then, responding to the call of freedom, a later generation ran off to the hills of the Cockpit Country to morph further into super sprinters like Bolt. The final ingredient comes from a school system that encourages physical activities and accommodates it with playfields and trained PE teachers who often spot prospects for greatness.
To Read More: Purchase your copy of Volume 9 #7 March-April 2018
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The explanation for Jamaica’s success in international athletics is complex. Some of it is due to a genetic blessing from Africa blended with one positive outcome from the blight of slavery. Then there are at least 2 important contributions from the education sector. Gluing it all together is Champs, the 107-year-old meeting of the island’s high schools in a team competition on the track and in the field. Its full name is Boys and Girls Championships and it is an event that captivates like no other. From Arthur Wint, Jamaica’s first Olympic champion to the incomparable Usain Bolt, the country’s heroes and heroines wet their appetite for domination at Champs. They race, jump and throw with the backing of loyal past students, expert coaches and diligent teachers.
The extravaganza started in 1910 with a handful of boys schools and after fits and starts with a distaff version, Girls Championships has been held consistently since 1957. A major change, of course, happened 19 years ago when Boys Championships and Girls Championships merged to form a super Champs in 1999. Today, Boys and Girls Championships draw fans from all over the world and not just in person. Thanks to the Internet, fans and Jamaicans in the diaspora tune in and watch every dash and distance. It now takes 5 days to decide which school team is the best in the nation. The top teams now are Wint’s alma mater, Calabar High School, which is riding a streak of six straight wins and Edwin Allen Comprehensive High School, the Frankfield institution, has 4 wins on the trot and 5 in six years.
Historically, Kingston College and Vere Technical High School are the King and Queen pins of Champs. Kingston College revolutionised the preparation of high school athletes in the nineteen sixties and reaped the benefits with the start of a 14 year winning streak from 1962 to 1975. Vere, a mass producer of champions, won from 1979 to 1993. Kingston College and Vere have the most Champs win overall too, with 31 and 22 victories respectively. Schooled by expert coaches who are often graduates of the 38-year-old GC Foster College for Physical Education and Sport, the athletes generate excitement. Since 1963, when Champs moved from Sabina Park to the National Stadium, they’ve been on centre stage in March each year. With that cathedral of sport full of its 30,000 seat capacity, the young athletes test their ability, preparation and their nerve.
The athletes are a special creation. Their forebears came from Africa an unrivalled blessing of fast twitch fibres which is the fuel of sprinting and the throws. Then, responding to the call of freedom, a later generation ran off to the hills of the Cockpit Country to morph further into super sprinters like Bolt. The final ingredient comes from a school system that encourages physical activities and accommodates it with playfields and trained PE teachers who often spot prospects for greatness.
To Read More: Purchase your copy of Volume 9 #7 March-April 2018
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