Lamount eyes top job at JTTA
Published:Saturday | November 5, 2022 | 12:09 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
VETERAN local table tennis coach, Samuel Lamount, believes his time has come to take over the reins of the sport in Jamaica following what he terms as a ‘growing calls’ for him to throw his hat into the 2023 presidential ring.
“A lot of the key stakeholders have been pushing me to take over the presidency in Jamaica. I’m one of the persons who has done a lot of work to develop table tennis here, and I was one of the persons who sent Jamaica back to the World Championships,” Lamount said.
“You have to ensure that the stakeholders are satisfied, we need to work with them to build a proper programme and club structure,” he added.
New elections, including that for the presidency of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA), are due in February of 2023. According to Lamount his aim is to have people in leadership positions held accountable for their actions and take responsibility.
“You can’t have persons who just want to take power and not responsibility, and one of the most important things is the debt that the JTTA has that must be paid. So I would want to be the person who helped to free the JTTA from their debt,” added Lamount.
This debt, he said, needs to be erased in order to take table tennis to where it truly belongs and garner the attention of the sport-loving public. He is already planning fund-raising activities to pay off the debt if he is elected president.
“What I will do is try to host fund-raising events because once I take power I will have to ensure that those who are owed are paid,” Lamount said.
He would also look to improve the level of the sport in Jamaica.
“We want to ensure that the country becomes more competitive, which will cause the standard to rise. So, we would invest in the youngsters, as well as increase the number of participants. We need to be qualifying persons for the Olympics and World Championships, but before we can think of that we have to build up a cadre of young players who can play at a good level so we might have to invest in training centres also,” said the aspiring president.