KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) says that a record number of sports coaches have responded to its call in respect of a high-level coaches’ course, which will be delivered by Panam Sports in partnership with the Canadian Coaching Association.

The association said over 70 stakeholders have registered their commitment to pursue the course, which will cover coaching philosophy and leadership, advanced performance planning, energy systems and physiology, strength and conditioning, sports psychology, advanced injury prevention and recovery strategies and high performance analysis.

The association said this is in keeping with its developmental strategies of which education and training are critical elements.

In a communique to member federations and stakeholders concerning the course, JOA President, Christopher Samuda, explained that the game plan of the governing body is “to build capacity for today’s feats and tomorrow’s legacies”.

The course is part of a suite of educational courses that the apex body is continuing to make accessible to stakeholders and supports the Advanced Sports Management Course (ASMC), which the JOA will, for the first time in its history, make available to a cohort in the Diaspora, the association said.

In applauding the tremendous response to the coaches’ course and the ASMC, JOA Secretary General/CEO Ryan Foster said, “Our members and stakeholders have not only seized the JOA’s vision of the value of education and training, but have embraced the known principle that an investment in education pays the best dividends in your working life and is your pension in your twilight years.”

Meanwhile, Samuda in commenting on the strategic direction of JOA, said, “The creation of a sport industry demands a physical and socio-economic infrastructure that is based on viable investments in the human capital and not on hand-outs, for the latter creates dependency while the former promotes independence and mastery.”

The JOA explained that mastery, in the various disciplines of sport, is the business of the JOA, which quite recently also made two calls for opportunities in pursuing master’s degrees.

“The Master of Arts (MA), a postgraduate degree in Sports, Ethics and Integrity, and the Master of Sport Administration (MSP), a postgraduate degree in organisational management, sport marketing and research, are both tenable at international universities,” the association said.

“They will inaugurate an initiative which the JOA has branded ‘Olympic EduPower’ that will provide master’s and doctoral educational opportunities for members and stakeholders in empowering them,” it continued.