1 month ago
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DONALD RUKARE, interim president of Commonwealth Sport, said he is looking forward to the successful second staging of the Commonwealth Sport GAPS Americas and Caribbean programme set to be held from July 21 to July 25.
The GAPS programme, which stands for Gather, Adjust, Prepare, and Sustain, is aimed at creating inclusive pathways in sports for para athletes and coaches across the world.
The programme had its inaugural staging last year in the Caribbean region, and will once again return as a collaboration between the Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) and the University of West Indies (UWI) Faculty of Sport.
Rukare said Commonwealth Sport stands in full support of the programme and is confident of another successful staging.
“At Commonwealth Sport, we are fully supportive of inclusive sport. We believe in the power of sport to unite all athletes of various abilities and we’re particularly happy that through the GAPS programme, we’re able to promote inclusive sport,” he said.
“We’re very happy that the second edition of the GAPS programme is being held in the beautiful city of Kingston. We wish you all the best and we hope you find this camp very insightful, very useful and we look forward to a successful holding of this second GAPS camp in Kingston, Jamaica.”
Suzanne Harris-Henry, secretary general of the JPA, said the association are committed to hosting the GAPS programme as they believe it will play an important role in the development of para athletics.
She explained through the programme, both para athletes and coaches will receive important development which will help in their sporting ambitions.
“For the first camp to happen last year and to know the second camp is happening this year, I am just very impressed with the dedication from all the stakeholders involved to ensure that all the para athletes from the Caribbean, and their coaches are trained,” she said.
“It is important for our coaches to have the requisite skills to ensure that our athletes are on the world stage, and the Paralympic Games ultimately, to win medals because they have the right coaches to support them.”
The programme will be hosted at the UWI Mona campus, which dean of UWI’s Faculty of Sport, Dr Akshai Mansingh, welcomed with open arms.
“It was a concept that we developed with great support with the Jamaica Paralympic Association. That support was important but I think what’s more important was the actual effect, which was that we had the camp last year.
“The fact that we’re having a second camp shows not only commitment but perseverance. It shows the importance of not just para sports, but that we’re fully committed to this and we’re absolutely delighted that we’re having a Caribbean camp.”
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