US sports groups return to Jamaica with renowned Old Harbour coach

A week-long visit from a sports delegation from the United States saw them share their knowledge and training skills with several groups across four parishes.

Dupont Primary, Camperdown High, Calabar, Manchester High, Dinthill Technical, Stadium, Phase One Academy, First Assemblies of God Mandeville, were among the scheduled stops.

At one of its sessions staged at the Old Harbour High School, Zach Arington spoke on the importance of developing healthy eating habits and practicing effective time management.

Arington, a director at the non-profit Sports Reach Group, also implored coaches during the session to understand that their role in developing the minds and skill-sets of these student-athletes is one of “sacrifice” that goes beyond the game. 

“You are giving 100% of yourself, you’re sacrificing so that these people can become great young men and women,” said Arington, a six-foot eight-inch former basketball college player. “Your entire job is sacrifice and if it isn’t then you are not doing a great job as a coach.”

There stop in Old Harbour was already the fourth in three days for the sports outfit which had a familiar face in Pastor Ricardo Edwards who spent more than a decade as head coach of Old Harbour High basketball team steering them to numerous titles.

Edwards, a very popular figure in these parts and within Jamaica’s basketball fraternity, immigrated to the US with his family roughly two years but says his heart is always with Old Harbour and his native country.

He’s now the director of the Jamaica Chapter for Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), another not-for-profit sports organization out of the US. 
Both the FCA and Sports Reach are Christian-based outreach bodies that provide opportunities for athletes, coaches and fans to reach the world through sports through organized missions throughout the US and the world.

The collaboration on this trip saw the groups hosting primarily basketball training sessions and motivational assemblies at each stop from the city of Kingston to Mandeville.

“Are you spending time investing in you to develop you, so you’ll be able to be effective in the sport you are in?” Edwards asked coaches inside the school’s auditorium, before delving into how he used his Christian values and principles to achieve self-improvement.

Edwards, who was born in Tivoli Gardens, added: “In basketball every year I try to invest in me to learn more by questioning coaches, athletes; looking at various systems and how it will match my players; how am I dealing with the situation that’s facing me; and how am I translating it to my team. How am I breaking down communication for them to understand what we want? Am I looking at my players and seeing their strengths and weakness? Am I letting them play to these advantages or disadvantages? How can I help them identify these things? How can I help them stay in school? How can I help them do their homework? It is easy to go through the motion. But what are we as coaches doing to make us better in serving those who are here?”

Rachel Smith, the most senior among three female coaches on the trip, contended that an elite mindset is what separates the best from the rest.

“Every day you have to get up and say ‘I want to be the best version of myself’,” she said, while highlighting how athletes at the top of their game are extremely hard working, courageous and confident.

Sports Reach has been to Jamaica on many occasions in the past and has played significant roles helping many talented athletes acquire scholarships in US institutions.

The approach by the groups is termed “sports evangelism”, Edwards said – a strategy he dubs “reaching without preaching”. In other words, finding a way into the hearts of young people, and instill in them wholesome Christian values without preaching to them like a Sunday sermon.
It’s an idea that seems to be very effective.

“On this trip we were able to share the Gospel or a message from the Bible to roughly 1,470 people. Fifty of those were coaches and we saw 70 athletes indicate they want to follow Christ or turn back to Him. We took the names and will be following up and we also gave them to pastors in nearby churches,” Edwards tells Old Harbour News after returning to the United States.

“I spoke to a few principals who wanted to know how can they have a FCA program on their campus and we were able to bless the coaches and athletes with over 250lbs of basketball gear and equipment.”