Phillips Community League getting bigger and better

THE first time it was good. This time organisers of the East Central St Andrew Dr. Peter Phillips Community League are delivering on their promise to make the second time better.

Already, they have improved on their initial standard, adding an information fair to the opening ceremony, which took place at the Maxfield Park Sports Complex last Saturday.

It included a large number of teams lining up to showcase their skills in different sporting disciplines over the next three months. For football there were 24, netball 14 and basketball 10.

Action commences tomorrow and will continue every Sunday with matches in each discipline until the moment of climax - the finals.

Former national senior men's team central defender, Marvin Fisher, who is responsible for co-ordinating the sports programme in the constituency, said the inclusion of the state agencies is important.

"In order to engage the entire community we had the state agencies such as the National Family Planning Board, National Council on Drug Abuse, Dispute Resolution Board, National Youth Service, Electoral Office of Jamaica and others come and participate," said Marvin Fisher, who shares responsibilities with Bethune Morgan.

"Say for instance the Dispute Resolution Board, if we can bring these agencies to help them to resolve their differences without resorting to violence then it would help in a big way," added Fisher, a businessman who grew up in a section of the area along Lyndhurst Road.

family planning

"In terms of family planning, they can be further educated about diseases and having their life structured before having children ... our aim is to have them involved in the whole venture," Fisher noted. "It will be ongoing, we've to ensure that we continue engaging these agencies.

"It was well received by the community on a whole. We had full participation from the communities.

"Grace Kennedy helped to sponsor the day. We want to thank them for their initiative and involvement," he added.

The competitions, Fisher said, are geared towards "community and personal development in terms of unearthing talent to filter it into the national programmes".

This, he says, fits within the goals of the area's member of parliament, Dr Peter Phillips.

"Dr Phillips' vision is to have a premier league team from the community. We have a five-year plan going forward ... that is one of our major goals going forward," said Fisher.

Two teams in the constituency now play in the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association second-tier major league competition, Molynes United and just-promoted Maxfield, which won the Syd Bartlett League last year.

In netball, there are three teams involved in the Jamaica Netball Association leagues - Molynes United, Red Challenge and Maxfield.

"Dr Phillips promised that this year would've been bigger and better and it is certainly going to be so," promised Fisher.