ISSA hopes to get approval for fans at Champs

President of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), Keith Wellington, says he is very optimistic that they will secure approval from the Government for spectators to return to this year’s staging of the ISSA-GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Championships.

The championships is scheduled for April 5-9 at the National Stadium.

The 2021 championships was held without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic but according to Wellington talks between ISSA and the Government have been very positive and he is now hopeful that they will be granted permission for the fans to return.

“We have sent in our request for approval. We met with the Government representative last week and outlined our basic plans,” said Wellington.

“We have indicated that we would like to have spectators and the Government is receptive to the idea and so we are really hopeful that fully vaccinated persons will be able to attend Champs this year,” he said.

The ISSA boss pointed out that his association took a huge financial hit from last year’s championships last season, as no permission was granted by the Government to stage the event with spectators and therefore they were not able to generate any funds from gate receipts.

Wellington also underscored that the National Stadium usually holds up just over 30,000 spectators but they are aiming to have at least half of that number for the championships.

“We haven’t decided on the numbers but based on what would have been happening with gatherings, we suspect that it would be half of the capacity of the National Stadium,” he said.

“We had competitions last year without the benefit of gate receipts and therefore this year if we are able to have spectators, then it would certainly help us,” Wellington stated.

Wellington, the principal of St Elizabeth Technical High, outlined that majority of the schools have had their athletes vaccinated already and therefore his organisation is quite pleased about this.

“I think that for the most part the athletes are vaccinated. Schools would have already got their athletes vaccinated to participate in the various development meets,” Wellington said.