Sports Development Foundation

SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2021 38 NEW MARKET NewMarket Oval – Westmoreland 10 ladies playing in the big leagues across Australia, NewZealand, England and South Africa. It does not come much better than that, and what we need, as a result, is tobuildon theother sports. The truth of the matter is that we need to be spending much more. We still donot have enoughof the kind of infrastructure that we really need.” The money sent back home that goes towards food, clothing, rent and mortgages, aswell as savings accounts, contributes to the billions of dollars that come into the country via remit- tances. In 2020, for example, when the tourism industry crashedwith the onset of the pandemic, Jamaicans abroad sent back US$3 billion, a size- able contribution to the country’s GDP. “I think we have all realised now that remittances contributed signifi- cantly to the country’s sustenance, at a time when all industries were being negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,”Wilks said. In addition to building infrastruc- ture and enabling athletes to earn locally and overseas, sports also contributes to the GDP by keeping the country’s workforce healthy and easing the burden on its hospitals. “Speaking to doctors, you get an appreciation for what is spent treating people with diabetes, heart condition, hypertension, and how lowering that cost could impact the economy, by saving on expenditure. “This moves us to the social aspect. I continue to believe that our crime problem could be solved if we manage to utilise sports as a key tool of intervention in a country like ours where crime is being committed mainly in an age range of 12-30 years. If you could engage them, you would have reduced crime significantly.” Less crime tends to result in greater levels of direct investment, which in turn creates more jobs, better oppor- tunities for the people to spur growth of the nation’s GDP. ChairmanGeorgeSoutar opines that using sports as a means in addressing someofwhat is causingour intractable crimeproblemandsocial deviancehas worked inother countries. He suggests theGovernment coulddoapilotproject in one of the high-crime communities using sports as the fulcrum in a com- prehensive multisectoral programme utilising the methodology that has brought success elsewhere. POWER CONTINUED FROM 37 PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS