STETHS takes aim at synthetic track

ST ELIZABETH Technical High School (STETHS) is moving to become the first school in western Jamaica to have its own synthetic track, stakeholders saying there were obvious benefits to athletes.

According to Keith Wellington, principal of STETHS, the region is desperately in need of a synthetic track.

“If we look at our location and where the other tracks in the country are, I think we are ideally situated for a track to serve this part of Jamaica. There is enough land space to have the track built here. All the schools in Manchester, St Elizabeth and Westmoreland in particular, would have access to somewhere within an hour away from them. If you look at other places like Clarendon and G.C. Foster, it is like 45 minutes away now and Kingston has quite a few tracks. Generally speaking, not just for our purposes but we think we need one and the region needs one right here,” Wellington told The Gleaner.

“In terms of performance on an artificial surface is usually different from what you do on a grass surface. The training and managing injuries are much easier using the artificial surface and beneficial,” he added.

STETHS has a grass field that is used for football, cricket and for track and field.

In 2016, Calabar High opened the first all-weather synthetic track at a secondary institution in the Caribbean and was followed by Jamaica College which, in 2019, opened the JC Ashenheim Stadium.

Meanwhile, former STETHS head coach Mike Ollivierre has welcomed wholeheartedly the idea of lobbying for a synthetic track.

“What I would like to do is make an appeal not only to the entire sporting fraternity, but to the Government as well to try and assist us in getting a track here at STETHS. Central Jamaica would need that facility and I think this is the best place to build it. Athletes at STETHS and other schools in the environment are producing, so they need that type of impetus and encouragement. When we established STETHS Invitational track meet, the long-term plan was to have the track behind the dormitory. Hopefully, maybe in another 12 months it will be installed,” said Ollivierre

Wellington, also the president of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), said athletes need easier access to a track.

“For the athletes in Montego Bay, though STETHS is central and can be used, I think the track down there needs to be refurbished. Even if you’re having a track meet in Santa Cruz, you would still need the one in Montego Bay. Where they are strategically placed, you need tracks across the country where people have easier access. It can’t be that there is one in Montego Bay and none in Santa Cruz or vice versa,” said Wellington.