Let’s use sport as a community healer–Samuda

Parents are being urged to be more embracing and understanding in order to facilitate a transformational change in society that alters the mindset of youth.

Benefits of this lifestyle were extrapolated by former Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Novelette Grant during the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Breakfast Forum at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

In his welcome message, Christopher Samuda, President of the JOA, said: "Let's speak about solutions and use sport as a community healer, a community builder, a community unifier, a community game-changer. Let's use sport as a catalyst for moulding character and giving expression to self-value and determination.

"The Jamaica Olympic Association is a repository of solutions for we are not pre-occupied with problems which are simply challenges for us. We look squarely, face on, at the challenges, strategically assess them and then become consumed with overcoming them in the interest of our members and sport.

"Welcome to a fellowship in sport where we, the JOA, engages the mind in commanding, in taking charge and responsibility for action in a holistic, clinical, yet humanitarian way," said Samuda.

The issue at hand falls under the theme - 'Outside threats, Inside traps: Navigating for a better Jamaica', for which Grant showed the direct correlation of crime on sport, as it is part of a society that is also impacted by crime.

Great Impact

"Sport impacts our lives in many ways," said Grant, who noted that while "big sporting events act as a unifier", it can also be a minefield for crime as there are "violence activities that started on the field of play".

Showing a contrary, she pointed to the world-renowed annual high school track and field championships, Champs, where on occasions 'schoolboy athletes were a big headache for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)', but also made reference to the quadrennial FIFA World Cup, highlighting that during that period 'murders are down'.

The occurrence or possibility of such falls under the umbrella of 'Outside threats', which encompasses the broader scope of crime and illegal activities taking place in society to which youth, especially boys, are attracted.