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Wilson hails MOU between G.C. Foster and Sprintec

Published:Friday | August 24, 2018 | 12:00 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Gladstone Taylor
David Mais (seated left) chairman, G.C. Foster College, and Dr Paul Auden (seated right), chairman, Sprintec Track Club, sign the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between both organisations at G.C. Foster College yesterday. Witnessing the signing (from left) are Pan Am Badminton Federation president Vishu Tolan; Chester McCarthy, athletics director, G.C. Foster; Alando Terrelonge, state minister, Ministry of Culture, Gender affairs, Entertainment and Sports; Dr Warren Blake, president, Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association; Maurice Wilson, acting principal, G.C. Foster College; and Christopher Samuda, president, Jamaica Olympic Association.

Head of the Sprintec Track Club, Maurice Wilson, expressed his delight yesterday after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the G.C. Foster College.

Wilson told The Gleaner following the MOU signing, which was held at the college's campus in St Catherine, that he was very happy to be joining forces with the college.

"I am extremely happy, and it has been long in coming, but there is no time like the right time. It is important that the legacy of G.C. Foster and the club are directly intertwined," said Wilson, who is acting principal of G.C. Foster College.

"If Maurice Wilson is not around, the collaboration must continue, and so it is for this reason that we are making sure that the structure is not only about one person, but about a group of persons that want to see the institution improve, want to see track and field improve, and by extension, sports in Jamaica," he said.

Wilson, who founded Sprintec in 2003, added that the club had already been assisting G.C. Foster's athletes in a number of ways.

"Obviously, there has been a great synergy because the college has been able to derive a number of benefits through our international athletes," Wilson said.

"We have been able to solicit excellent medical assistance for our college athletes, and we have also been able to solicit gear for our college athletes through adidas," he said.

David Mais, chairman of the G.C. Foster College, said that his institution was very happy with the partnership.

"I think that the relationship, which has developed over the years, has got stronger, and we went through the engagement period, and now the two organisations are together in a formal arrangement," said Mais.

"We are absolutely looking at how we move together to make the track and field programme at G.C. Foster College and Sprintec much better, and it is something that will help the national team," he said.

Alando Terrelonge, minister of state in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, was also in attendance at yesterday's signing.

Dr Orville Taylor, senior lecturer and head of the Department of Sociology, Psychology, and Social Work at the University of the West Indies, was the guest speaker.