Meet the new kids: New Forest hope to build their own legacy
Published:Friday | April 8, 2022 | 12:08 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
New Forest High has not been a high school for very long but after finally making their ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletic Championship (Champs) debut, head coach Andrew Bent says they are determined to have a top-level track and field programme, which will keep their promising athletes at the school.
Located in Manchester, New Forest was a junior high institution before being upgraded to a high school in 2015. It has been a three-year journey to get to Champs as they were expected to debut in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic erased any plans for competition as well as last year’s edition. While only competing with two athletes this year, Jace Witter and Gabriel Merchant, Bent says that they are hoping that this is the spark that sees talent wanting to stay and be a part of something special.
“We were a little bit behind in our preparation, but Champs couldn’t miss us this year. We qualified about 12 athletes back in 2020. We didn’t participate in 2021 because of the restrictions, but we are here now, and we hope to be here next year again because our programme is growing,” Bent told The Gleaner. “Our athletes coming into the high school were a little bit tentative. But we are new, and we want to develop our programme to the best of our ability.”
Merchant competed in the Class Three Girls’ 100 metres and 200m while Witter, in his debut, made the semi-finals of the Class Two Boys’ 100m and advanced to today’s Class Two Boys’ 200m semi-finals
It has not been a smooth ride to their debut for Bent as he lost his mother this year during their preparations. He said that the addition of past student Oshane Miller to the coaching staff has been instrumental during his own difficult period.
“I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time with the few athletes that we have, and he spent most of the time with the athletes preparing them,” Bent said.
New Forest’s preparations are operating under very limited resources, with the school not having a proper playfield, gym, or weights to train with on a daily basis. What they do have is a coaching staff willing to go the extra mile and the full support of their board chairman, Trisha Williams Singh, a New Forest past student.
“Our infrastructure is not up to standard, but we have a great staff and we try to work with what we have. We tend to seek sponsorship from corporate Jamaica,” Bent said. “Our board chair, Mrs Williams-Singh, is very energetic, and she will go the extra mile to ensure that the team is at Champs and doing well.”
School principal Arnaldo Allen says that they have already received feedback from parents interested in entering their children for the programme next year. Bent noted that young talent has left for other established schools, but Allen says he hopes that having their own programme changes the tide.
“Our aim is to give opportunities to those in south Manchester the chance to display their talent and to showcase in Jamaica that you can find talent to continue this rich culture of track and field. So every nook and cranny in the country we can find them and not just Calabar, a Kingston College or a Jamaica College,” Allen said.