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'Step up to the plate' - JAAA boss urges private sector to help develop UWI Sports Science Faculty

Published:Monday | October 15, 2018 | 12:00 AMAkino Ming/Staff Reporter
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Ricardo Makyn
Kristoff Darby (left), of Kingston College, wins his heat of the Boys Class 1 800m at the Digicel Anthrick Corporate Area Development Meet at the UWI/Usain Bolt Track on Thursday March 3, 2017. The UWI/Usain Bolt Track is situated at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus, where Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association president Dr Warren Blake wants the private sector to help in the development of a sports science faculty.
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Blake
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President of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Dr Warren Blake, is calling on the Government and the private sector to help make the University of the West Indies' plan to build a sport science facility a reality.

Blake said the facility is necessary if the country is going to maintain its spot as a dominate force in athletics.

"I want to publicly endorse the University of West Indies' plan to build a sports science facility and to ask the Government and the private sector to step up to the plate because if we do not do this, others will use science to close the gap between our sprinters and theirs," Blake said at the unveiling of the statue of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at Statue Park at Independence Park on Sunday evening. "It is the plan to enhance the raw talent that we have here, and this facility will help us do that."

Last year, the University launched the faculty of sport at the Mona Campus and there were plans to develop a facility for sport science to further the country's growth in sport through science, but it has yet to be materialised.

Blake is also pushing for a speedy completion of the Sports Museum promised by Minister of Sports, Olivia Grange, as he believes it is necessary to continue recognising the achievements of Jamaica's outstanding athletes.

The JAAA boss also called for an improvement of sporting infrastructure, the building a synthetic track at the Kirkvine Oval in Manchester, and the repair of Stadium East and Catherine Hall tracks.

"We need this so that many more Shelly-Anns can be nurtured," Blake said.