Great opportunity - Robinson underlines CAC Games as important platform
Published:Wednesday | July 18, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Chef de Mission of Jamaica's team to this year's Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games Lt Col Derek Robinson says that this year's championships presents a great opportunity for a number of the country's less-prominent athletes to make a name for themselves.
The 23rd edition of the games will begin today in Barranquilla, Colombia, with Yona Knight-Wisdom and Pele Lulien competing in the men's 3m springboard diving event starting at 4:00 p.m. Before that, Jamaica's female footballers will take on Venezuela at 10 a.m.
Robinson underlined that the games will form a very important role in the development of the country's athletes.
"The CAC Games was always considered a regional develop-ment meet, but the truth is that it is now a qualifying games for the Pan Am Games and the Olympics," said Robinson.
"It has gained significant importance, and what is perhaps even more exciting about it is the fact that it is giving other sporting disciplines that opportunity to break into that level," he said.
"Hopefully, we will see new sports heroes emerging out of the CAC Games, and then they will become more familiar on the lips of Jamaicans, and from there, we would start to push and expose them even further," Robinson said.
He added that he was relishing the challenge of leading the country's biggest-ever team to the championships.
"There are challenges, and it is a massive undertaking and a huge responsibility to be chef de mission of any team," Robinson said.
"The fact that we have the biggest team ever makes it even more so, but I believe I am up for the task. It is a lot of work. I have a good team with a lot of experience, and so I think that we will make it with little or no problems," he said.
Jamaica will be represented by 186 athletes competing in 16 disciplines at the event, which runs from July 19 to August 3.