All is not lost

Western Bureau:

WHILE THE state-owned sporting facilities in western Jamaica continue to linger in a state of uselessness, much to the detriment of the regions aspiring young sportsmen and women, thanks to the intervention of investors who have been creating private facilities to fill the void, all is not lost.

The private facilities now serving as the ‘saving grace’ for the west are, the elegant Wespow Park in Montego Bay, St James, which was developed by businessman and sports enthusiast Orville Powell; the Rusea’s High School’s Colin Miller Sports Complex in Lucea, Hanover, which is now being transformed into a world-class facility by the Rusea’s High School Brothers-Sisters Foundation Inc; and the Llandilo Sports Complex, which is the brainchild of Westmoreland Football Association president, Everton Tomlinson.

The Wespow Park, which is easily the best club football facility in Jamaica and features an official football field, practice fields, a futsal pitch, a building complex with office space, players’ dormitories, a fully equipped gym, a theme park, jogging trail, cabins, and a swimming pool, was developed specifically to provide sporting opportunities to young people.

“It is all about the youths … the facility was created with a vision to help youths identify and develop their talent,” said Powell, who owns Jamaica Premier League outfit Montego Bay United Football Club.

“We cannot be complaining about the youths not doing the right thing if we are not creating opportunities for them to be properly socialised and become useful, whether in sports or other facets of life.”

Powell, who sees sports as a business and not purely as a recreational activity, has a vision of creating a self-sustaining business out of Wespow Park, and is fully committed to achieving that task, regardless of whatever hurdles might pop up along the way.

“I believe sports has the power to bring peace to our communities, if we choose to work together in the best interest of our youths. This is how I feel … in my view, sport is a key pillar in building a better Jamaica for all of us,” said Powell.

25-METRE SWIMMING POOL

In addition to football and the many other activities that take place daily at Wespow Park, it is the 25-metre swimming pool which is keeping the dreams of young swimmers in the west alive by allowing them to train for national and international events. Without this pool, they would have had no choice but to train in the open seas, as there is no other inground pool of that nature in the region.

In Westmoreland where the Frome Sports Ground, which was once the premier sporting facility in that parish, is now out of commission, the Llandilo Sports Complex, on the outskirts of Savanna-la-Mar, has taken over as the main sporting venue in the parish and is now hosting schoolboy and club football, alongside major netball and basketball competitions.

“This facility was developed to create a high-quality location to provide our footballers with the best possible surface and surroundings to develop their football skills,” said Tomlinson, who is a former St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), Reno FC, and Wadadah FC goalkeeper, who also earned football coaching certification in England.

“I benefitted from sports as a youngster and I refuse to stand back and allow crime and violence to take over our youngsters when I know that sports can save them and give them a career and an acceptable way of life,” said Tomlinson, who has been building the facility primarily through help from the business community. “My vision for this complex, when it is completed, is to put in a running track and a swimming pool so the youngsters who are not into football can venture into other sports.”

RICH SPORTING HISTORY

With a rich sporting history, which includes 11 daCosta Cup schoolboy football titles, Rusea’s High School’s Colin Miller Sports Complex is a symbol of the school’s proud sporting tradition, especially for the generation of the 1980s and ‘90s which made the school a household name in Jamaica.

Late last year, the Troy Malcolm-led Rusea’s Brothers-Sisters Foundation Inc (Brosis) broke ground for the construction of a multimillion-dollar facility, which is expected to transform the existing complex into a state-of-the-art facility, like some of the top football clubs in Europe.

“We want to create a modern facility similar to what you would see at any top La Liga teams in Spain,” said Malcolm, who captained the 1983 Rusea’s daCosta Cup team which lost to Cornwall College in the final.

“We want to give Rusea’s a world-class sports facility, which I am sure will be shared with the wider Lucea community,” said Malcolm.

“Sports has brought great joy to this school, and we want to create the best conditions possible for the future generation of students to continue this rich tradition.”

Based on the passion displayed by Powell, Tomlinson, and Malcolm, and their collective hunger to succeed, with or without the region’s underutilised state-owned sporting facilities, there are no reasons to believe that they will not spearhead a revival of sports in the west, and hopefully reclaim the youngsters who have abandoned sports for illicit get-rich-quick schemes such as the deadly lottery scam.