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<span style="font-weight: bold">JEFF BLAIR [Canadian Sports Journalist]
KINGSTON, JAMAICA— From Saturday's Globe and Mail </span>
For now the public-address announcers at National Stadium sound very much like the voice of authority, but in two days they will compete and often lose a fight with a hormone-fuelled choir of 30,000 mostly teenaged voices and almost as many vuvuzelas.
The PA will be called upon to introduce the Prime Minister, several Olympic medalists, the chief executive officer of German sportswear giant Puma and make sure event sponsor GraceKennedy Group is name-dropped – “I say ‘Grace’ you say ‘Kennedy’” – but in these early stages of the Jamaican boys and girls athletics championships, Ed Barnes and his crew are the voice of God, while providing a running commentary for Champs, the Jamaican boys and girls high school athletics championship that will hold this nation of sprinters in rapt attention for four days.
And so Jazeel Murphy will not just win his preliminary 100-metre heat, but do so “in a stroll in the park.” In lane five of heat seven, Romaine Andrade is “another dangerous customer,” while Odail Todd in the third heat doesn’t just win. He is “going forward, and he won’t disappoint you.” The drummers under the videoboard are thanked, but are also asked to “please put down your instruments, you are affecting the field events.” Once done, they are thanked “for the peace.”
Champs, as the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Associations four-day championships are called, is big business and it is bursting at the seams. Western Union, Puma and the mammoth GraceKennedy Group of companies sponsor the meet, and there are concerns about ticket hoarding and over-loading competitors with events and suggestions that maybe the National Stadium needs to be expanded.
Glen Mills, who is Usain Bolt’s coach and also the meet director, is among those voicing concerns. Some competitors will run in seven events, and smiles are few at the start, the gaily coloured hair and mismatched knee-high socks that are de rigueur, especially in the girls’ races, belying the seriousness of the endeavour. Fame, money and the odd Olympic medal await – and not always in that order.
Rest of Story Here
KINGSTON, JAMAICA— From Saturday's Globe and Mail </span>
For now the public-address announcers at National Stadium sound very much like the voice of authority, but in two days they will compete and often lose a fight with a hormone-fuelled choir of 30,000 mostly teenaged voices and almost as many vuvuzelas.
The PA will be called upon to introduce the Prime Minister, several Olympic medalists, the chief executive officer of German sportswear giant Puma and make sure event sponsor GraceKennedy Group is name-dropped – “I say ‘Grace’ you say ‘Kennedy’” – but in these early stages of the Jamaican boys and girls athletics championships, Ed Barnes and his crew are the voice of God, while providing a running commentary for Champs, the Jamaican boys and girls high school athletics championship that will hold this nation of sprinters in rapt attention for four days.
And so Jazeel Murphy will not just win his preliminary 100-metre heat, but do so “in a stroll in the park.” In lane five of heat seven, Romaine Andrade is “another dangerous customer,” while Odail Todd in the third heat doesn’t just win. He is “going forward, and he won’t disappoint you.” The drummers under the videoboard are thanked, but are also asked to “please put down your instruments, you are affecting the field events.” Once done, they are thanked “for the peace.”
Champs, as the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Associations four-day championships are called, is big business and it is bursting at the seams. Western Union, Puma and the mammoth GraceKennedy Group of companies sponsor the meet, and there are concerns about ticket hoarding and over-loading competitors with events and suggestions that maybe the National Stadium needs to be expanded.
Glen Mills, who is Usain Bolt’s coach and also the meet director, is among those voicing concerns. Some competitors will run in seven events, and smiles are few at the start, the gaily coloured hair and mismatched knee-high socks that are de rigueur, especially in the girls’ races, belying the seriousness of the endeavour. Fame, money and the odd Olympic medal await – and not always in that order.
Rest of Story Here
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