Keisha Hill, Staff Reporter

Elaine Davis (second right) accepts her Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence at the Jamaica Pegasus on Wednesday night from the host. At second left is Prime Minister Bruce Golding while special guest Curtly Ambrose (left) joins the party. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer

PRIME MINISTER Bruce Golding has affirmed his government's commitment to the development of sport in Jamaica.

The government, he says, will work with the sporting fraternity to intensify Jamaica's dominance in sports and to carve out an even greater niche in international competitions.

Speaking at the third annual Courtney Walsh Award for Excellence ceremony held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Wednesday evening, Golding said Jamaican athletes had made tremendous contributions on the worldwide stage but the avenue had to be created to ensure further development.

"Jamaica is a gifted country; we have dominated sports in many fields - far in excess of the size of our country," Golding said.

The Prime Minister noted that, as a country, many resources were focused on prominent sports personalities, but little emphasis was placed on young, raw talent.

Identify, train talent

"We are losing a lot of champions before they become champions. We need to reach out to these young people, identify their talent and help them to maximise their potential," he said.

"We need to start from the basics ... provide good-quality professional coaching for these youngsters and prepare them mentally. And with the right attitude, they one day will be as successful as the Courtney Walshes and the Curtly Ambroses."

The Government, he said, would undertake to examine the extent to which it could allocate resources to develop youngsters in the formative stages.

"I am hosting leaders in the sporting fraternity next week and I hope coming out of that meeting we will be able to galvanise some ideas - we can sit down and see the direction in which we go - and most important, how we prioritise the limited resources that we have," he said. "I want to send a signal from now that we will be depending more on the private sector to support major-league activities - to enable the government to put more of its resources at the nursery level ... to encourage our youngsters and to prepare them for bigger times."

Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, said: "Sports is very high on our agenda. When we go abroad and participate in sporting events we are the best. It is important that in developing skills and the talent, that we are able to motivate our young people to strive for excellence.

Community development

"If we are able to instil in our talented young people that we cannot settle with mediocrity, but they should continue to improve on talent and skill and strive for excellence, then we would develop into an even greater country," she said.

"Community sports development will ensure that the foundation is laid and that those with the talent and the skill are assisted from the early stages of their development so that as they grow, they will grow not only in stature, but they will become that much richer for what they have been able to achieve from the support that has been provided through that structure."