Kingston, Jamaica – Thirty-seven physical education teachers were officially certified by the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) during a presentation ceremony held at its National Arena office today.
The ceremony represents the culmination of a one-week course held in March of this year organized by the state agency for sport under the guidance of Mr. Kelsey McIntosh, who is an international baseball instructor from Baseball Canada.
Having been certified the coaches are tasked with teaching the fundamentals of one of the biggest and most lucrative game in the Americas.
Jamaica’s athleticism and its strong cricketing culture are seen as one of the countries where baseball can flourish given the right resource and support.
Despite the lack of resource, financially in particular, today’s exercise is a continuum to entrench the game at the grassroots said Mr. Ian Andrews, administrative director at INSPORTS.
“We at the Institute of Sports are ready but more importantly it is telling me that you are ready,” Andrews told the teachers. “We had a number of hiccups, we had a number of setbacks… but we are here today to proudly say we have certified you coaches, you PE Teachers to go out there and preach the gospel of baseball.
“We are putting it (baseball) in the primary school and hopefully we are going to put it in the high schools and also in the communities, but again it comes down to funding. The Institute of Sports cannot do it by itself because we have other sport. We see the importance of sport in this country but we cannot do it alone,” he added.
Of the cohort, seven participants of the programme which was staged at GC Foster College have been recommended by Mr. McIntosh to undertake the advanced Baseball Canada Regional
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