The historic Protocol for Partnership Agreement, which the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) signed with the United States Sports Academy (USSA) last year, will empower several coaches and sports executives this year.
This will happen, as they commence their pursuit of earning international certification in various sport-specific courses offered by the international academy.
A first bilateral partnership for the Caribbean and Central and South American national Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee of its kind, president of the JOA and JPA Christopher Samuda stated that, “This landmark partnership in education is engaging, empowering, and enlightening”, while JOA secretary general/CEO and JPA Director Ryan Foster lauded this investment in the human capital remarking that, “Education is one’s best pension and bankable asset.”
Notably among the first cohort of sportsmen and women are presidents and secretaries-general from 17 sports associations, as well as known sports personalities. “The JOA is fueling and igniting the knowledge of a wide cross-section of policymakers and practitioners in sport while providing electricity to sports development in a very real and practical way that will generate the energy that is well-needed for sustainability,” Foster commented.
The JOA, the local governing body in sport, is pursuing a very robust education policy of which the athletes, coaches, and administrators are the cornerstone. In another historic move the JOA last year inaugurated its own scholarship program, Olympic Scholars, the beneficiaries of which have been and will be several athletes across the spectrum of sport.
“We inspire our members and stakeholders to get with the program, learn the curricula well, write your own theses, evaluate your aspirations, and graduate with degrees of ambition,” Samuda said.
The apex association for Olympic and non-Olympic sports continues to host science-based and technical fora under the aegis of ‘Stamina’ a JOA educational initiative which it rolled out in early 2018 as part of its thrust in realizing one of its stated goals, that is “to create a knowledge and competency-based sports industry”.
Respected and well-known sports educator and the Jamaica Olympic Association Director Yvonne Kong, who has been the driving force behind JOA’s delivery of the IOC Advanced Sport Management Course (ASMC), stated that “Education is the JOA’s primary mantra, and through this partnership with the USSA we are creating several opportunities for our sportsmen and women to become knowledge-based transformational leaders.”
With this partnership and other signal education initiatives, the JOA is continuing to innovate in sport governance and break ground for the construction of a sports industry. According to Samuda, “This will be the first delivery by the JOA in an innings that will have pace and spin bowling designed to revolutionize the game in education.”
