250 children to benefit from SVL initiative

Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) will be providing five Jamaican high schools with 50 tickets each to the National Senior Championships set for June 30 to July 2.

This is the lottery company's way of providing an opportunity for students who would otherwise not have been able to attend. This year marks the 13th consecutive year in which SVL will be the main sponsor for the championships at which Jamaica selects its teams to the major global athletic championships, including the Olympic Games and the IAAF World Athletic Championships. The J$16 million being spent this year means the company has invested more than J$125 million over the past 13 years.

"Not to be forgotten also is our contribution to the CHASE Fund of over $13 billion dollars to date, of which 40 per cent or $5.2 billion is allocated to sports development," said SVL President and CEO Brian George. "We have also funded the Jamaica Olympic Association in excess of $20 million." The investment, George said, has not only seen Jamaica reap rich rewards at major championships over the period, but it has also served to help broaden the scope of disciplines in which Jamaican athletes have begun to excel.

"We are delighted to know that there is a widening of participation in non-traditional events such as gymnastics, javelin and shot put, though we have yet to see anyone qualifying in high jump and pole vault," he noted.

"I hope that Jamaicans will continue to break barriers, and as an enthusiastic dad whose son will be representing Trinidad and Tobago in the sport of judo, I am hoping that Jamaicans will one day be able to have representation in that field, too."

SIGNIFICANT LEGACIES

He also said he had hopes that the new wave of stars will arrive to build on the significant legacies of the current batch of stars that have served the country well over the past decade.

"The challenge for today and beyond is that, with the inevitable ageing of our current superstars Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown, we hope that the emerging stars of tomorrow - Elaine Thompson, Janieve Russell, Christine Day - Omar McLeod and the return of Yohan Blake and the younger ones such as Christopher Taylor, Michael O'Hara and Akeem Bloomfield, will accept the challenge of maintaining Jamaica's prominence in the track and field world for the years to come," he said.