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Portia tells CONCACAF gathering football saving lives in Jamaica
BY SEAN A WILLIAMS Assistant Sports Editor
Thursday, October 24, 2013
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, in her usual frank manner, says sport, and football in particularly, is saving lives in Jamaica, where a life of crime for many young people is a tempting alternative.
In an engaging presentation to the CONCACAF Sports Summit, held in the Cayman Islands on Tuesday, Simpson Miller told how disenfranchised youth in her country, especially males, have to make a choice between the gun and any other route of escape from this evil.
"In Jamaica, the reality is that oftentimes kids have the choice between the ball and the gun, and oftentimes those who choose the ball move on to develop their skills and to get contracts overseas and to make a good life," said the Jamaican prime minister as she addressed the summit aimed at having constructive discourse on the way forward in establishing and developing partnerships with all stakeholders of football in the CONCACAF region.
Simpson Miller added that a strong CONCACAF, with a social conscience, will not only be helping youngsters develop their skills at the game, but would be saving lives in some of the confederation's most impoverished member states.
"Football is loved and embraced by the world...in Jamaica, kids play with anything they can make into a ball... they play six-a-side or four-a-side when numbers are few. They play barefooted, saving their shoes for school, in the process hardening the soles of their feet," she told the gathering comprising the game's top brass, government officials, former players, corporate partners, social groups, among others.
Simpson Miller, who is also the Minister of Sport, said football is rich in life lessons, where it teaches teamwork and is also a tool that helps to shape many young minds for the journey of life.
"Football also teaches simple lessons like the ball is round, which means that anything is possible for (anyone)...we learn that the beauty of the game is beyond skills, but that one boy or girl at a time can break down barriers; it unites people and builds nations.
"Sport is the most important aspect of life, rivalled only perhaps by music. Out there are so many young footballers waiting to be discovered, diamonds in the rough just waiting on the systems (to help their development)," she said.
In addition, she underlined the power of the game in pursuit of social healing, claiming that "sports, and football in particular, can be a source to galvanise people and communities" in a positive way.
Simpson Miller told of the state-run Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and its role in helping to finance the national football programme, but conceded that those funds are still inadequate. She used the opportunity, to not only urge corporate support of for football in her homeland, but also for the rest of the Caribbean and the wider CONCACAF.
"The Government works closely with the JFF and the SDF, in particular, looking at sporting programmes (overall) to develop, but while Captain (Horace Burrell) would want more money, we have other areas to look after, like athletics, that put Jamaica way up there in the world, and I am proud now that we have the fastest man (Usain Bolt) and woman (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce) in the world.
"So, for football, (in this case) I urged big business in the CONCACAF region to support football," noted Simpson Miller.
Meanwhile, the Jamaican prime minister challenged CONCACAF to do everything in its power to lift the greatest football prize there is, the FIFA World Cup.
Simpson Miller noted that, if bringing the 'Holy Grail' of football home is not a top priority of CONCACAF, it might as well "pack up its kit and go home".
"CONCACAF must dream to win and you must execute to win...and the governments (of the confederation) must plan with CONCACAF to win," Simpson Miller told the forum held under the banner 'Transformation Through Partnership'.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2ikieG1br
BY SEAN A WILLIAMS Assistant Sports Editor
Thursday, October 24, 2013
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, in her usual frank manner, says sport, and football in particularly, is saving lives in Jamaica, where a life of crime for many young people is a tempting alternative.
In an engaging presentation to the CONCACAF Sports Summit, held in the Cayman Islands on Tuesday, Simpson Miller told how disenfranchised youth in her country, especially males, have to make a choice between the gun and any other route of escape from this evil.
"In Jamaica, the reality is that oftentimes kids have the choice between the ball and the gun, and oftentimes those who choose the ball move on to develop their skills and to get contracts overseas and to make a good life," said the Jamaican prime minister as she addressed the summit aimed at having constructive discourse on the way forward in establishing and developing partnerships with all stakeholders of football in the CONCACAF region.
Simpson Miller added that a strong CONCACAF, with a social conscience, will not only be helping youngsters develop their skills at the game, but would be saving lives in some of the confederation's most impoverished member states.
"Football is loved and embraced by the world...in Jamaica, kids play with anything they can make into a ball... they play six-a-side or four-a-side when numbers are few. They play barefooted, saving their shoes for school, in the process hardening the soles of their feet," she told the gathering comprising the game's top brass, government officials, former players, corporate partners, social groups, among others.
Simpson Miller, who is also the Minister of Sport, said football is rich in life lessons, where it teaches teamwork and is also a tool that helps to shape many young minds for the journey of life.
"Football also teaches simple lessons like the ball is round, which means that anything is possible for (anyone)...we learn that the beauty of the game is beyond skills, but that one boy or girl at a time can break down barriers; it unites people and builds nations.
"Sport is the most important aspect of life, rivalled only perhaps by music. Out there are so many young footballers waiting to be discovered, diamonds in the rough just waiting on the systems (to help their development)," she said.
In addition, she underlined the power of the game in pursuit of social healing, claiming that "sports, and football in particular, can be a source to galvanise people and communities" in a positive way.
Simpson Miller told of the state-run Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and its role in helping to finance the national football programme, but conceded that those funds are still inadequate. She used the opportunity, to not only urge corporate support of for football in her homeland, but also for the rest of the Caribbean and the wider CONCACAF.
"The Government works closely with the JFF and the SDF, in particular, looking at sporting programmes (overall) to develop, but while Captain (Horace Burrell) would want more money, we have other areas to look after, like athletics, that put Jamaica way up there in the world, and I am proud now that we have the fastest man (Usain Bolt) and woman (Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce) in the world.
"So, for football, (in this case) I urged big business in the CONCACAF region to support football," noted Simpson Miller.
Meanwhile, the Jamaican prime minister challenged CONCACAF to do everything in its power to lift the greatest football prize there is, the FIFA World Cup.
Simpson Miller noted that, if bringing the 'Holy Grail' of football home is not a top priority of CONCACAF, it might as well "pack up its kit and go home".
"CONCACAF must dream to win and you must execute to win...and the governments (of the confederation) must plan with CONCACAF to win," Simpson Miller told the forum held under the banner 'Transformation Through Partnership'.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport...#ixzz2ikieG1br