ISSA needs to change approach to be effective
Published:Monday | September 9, 2024 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
The Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) has a membership, if I am not mistaken, comprising the principals of our public high schools. They would, because of that very fact, be first concerned about the welfare of the students – also athletes – in their care. ISSA is also legitimately concerned with the education and socialisation of their students.
It is in this context that I read, with some amazement, about the concerns of senior members of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) that a formal restriction is being imposed by ISSA on schoolboy footballers who will now have to miss their school games for six days after playing in one of the senior leagues (Premier League, Major League, etc).
What alarmed me most of all is the concern that this will hinder the development of the footballers involved. One comment was that “we are talking about people who need to develop”. ISSA, however, must have the responsibility for the well-being, physical and mental, of the students involved. They are school principals. The assertion that the clubs have the wherewithal to see to the needs of the students for recuperation is not relevant. The schools and the principals have that responsibility.
On the other hand, the responsibility for the development of sports among the youth in Jamaica is that of the sporting associations, the JAAA, the JFF, etc. For far too long, this responsibility has been transferred to the school system. So, the poor principal, rather than focusing on getting his charges properly educated and socialised (and, admittedly, sport can play an important role in that) needs to be concerned that he – or she – is really preparing some of them for a future with Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain. We then turn around and ask him – or her – why they are not getting more passes in Math.
The burden of the responsibility of being the development arm for sports cannot be borne by the education system. It is already underfunded for the purposes that it really intended to meet – education and socialisation. Principals and their schools need to be focused on those. Clubs, with their youth arms, need to be re-energised to take on the challenge of sports development.
The problem is that we have been down this road too long. ISSA itself has sometimes been complicit. We need to reexamine the entire system, including sponsorship, coaches and how they are compensated, and the role of parents and past students in our schools. Change is going to be difficult but ISSA, in recognising its duty to its students, is starting to go down the right road.
ANTON THOMPSON