JGA looks to fund return of high-school golf
Published:Wednesday | April 19, 2023 | 1:57 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Golf Association (JGA), Jodi Munn-Barrow, is hoping the reintroduction of golf at the school level will breathe new life into the sport.
According to Munn-Barrow, golf, which was introduced at the school level some 10 years ago, failed to keep afloat because of insufficient funding.
“We didn’t have the funding to continue the programme because you have to train the coaches along with paying them and buying the equipment and we didn’t have the funding support from corporate Jamaica, so we couldn’t continue,” she said.
The JGA, Munn-Barrow explained, is in talks with various companies to come on board and assist with the buying of equipment so participating schools can afford the costs of playing the sport.
“We are currently trying to work with corporate Jamaica where we can have them sponsor the equipment. We’ve been reaching out to a couple of persons in corporate Jamaica to help us buy the equipment and train the coaches as well. This way the schools wouldn’t have the expense, it would be us (JGA) trying to get all of that expense covered,” the president explained.
Munn-Barrow believes the aim of this initiative is simply to help young players build a solid foundation.
The plan, she said, is for the programme to have a large number of participants so more players who could transition to the next level can be tagged.
“If you don’t have a strong junior programme, the game won’t grow. So we have to start with the youngsters, otherwise the game will die. So if we start at the schools, for example, and can get at least 500 players across the island learning, you might then be able to target 20 out of that number who show the capacity to move on to the next level and focus on that group. But if we don’t have the large pool to start with, then we would be at a deficit,” she believes.
The president believes that with the ease of access to golf courses for juniors, golf can quickly get on a trajectory to growth.
“Well normally, the golf courses allow the juniors to play for either a heavily subsidised fee or free of cost, so that is already being done. It’s rare to find a club that will not allow the juniors access to the course. We’re trying to expand and have as many persons playing across all walks of life. People keep saying that it’s an elite sport, sure, but some of Jamaica’s best golfers have come from extremely humble beginnings.”