CHAMPS 100 IS FINALLY HERE: LET THE GAMES BEGIN

So, its finally here! The Champs centennial gets into gear today at the National Stadium and I am stoked. The big questions this year; will Holmwood hold off the challenge of rivals Edwin Allen, who upset them at Central Champs? Can Kingston College hold off the challenges from Wolmer’s Boys, Calabar, Jamaica College, and St Jago?
We will get the answers to these questions over the next four days and the best part is that I will be getting the chance to cover the Champs via my radio show Sportsnation Live that airs on Nationwide90fm (90.7 on the FM band) and on nationwideradiojm.com (online).
Champs creates the greatest level of excitement every year in Jamaica and as our athletes continue to excel internationally it will continue to grow. A look at our current set of stars shows us how important these games have been for us. Many of them were forged and made battle-ready during their days as student athletes competing for their respective schools. Melaine Walker, Aneisha McLaughlin, Sherone Simpson, Shelly Ann Fraser, Usain Bolt, all had epic battles at Champs that helped make them into the champions they are today.
Who will be the next set of stars? Well, perhaps we will see some over the next four days. We have already seen what 14-year-old Jahzeel Murphy of Bridgeport High can do and there will be others who will emerge and continue to develop into World and Olympic champions of the future.
The Tracey sisters from Edwin Allen are clearly another set of champions of the future. Of course, Holmwood that has produced McLaughlin, Sonita Sutherland, Schillone Calvert, and Asnatascia Leroy, that amazing foursome from 2005, is just one of the more than 100 schools that are churning out champion athletes at a remarkable rate. Their coach Maurice Wilson believes we will see more this year.
Most of our current champions are still young, Bolt and Fraser are 23; Simpson, who attended Manchester High is 25, so too is St. Jago’s Kerron Stewart. They will be joined at future global championships by some from the crop competing this year as Jamaica continues to build upon its growing dominance in track and field.
However, for now I am content in just watching these future champions duke it out on the track and when the smoke clears on Saturday we will all know which schools ended up on top.
The key thing to remember though, is that despite the fact that two schools will represent the winners, there will be no losers because Jamaica has – in Champs -made winners of us all.