Remembering the Success of the Asuncion 2025 Junior Para Panametican Games
Jamaica Paralympic Team
Jamaica to Host GAPS Training Camp for Regional Para-Athletes
Posted by Alrick Swaby | Nationwide News Network | 21 Jul, 2025
Jamaica will host a one-week training camp for Caribbean para-athletes and coaches called GAPS – Gather, Adjust, Prepare, Sustain – at the University of the West Indies, from July 20-26.
This will be the second edition of its transformative programme and will welcome eight para-athletes and 18 coaches from six Caribbean nations – Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
This will be the first time for Dominica and Guyana.
The Jamaica Commonwealth Games Association, the Jamaica Paralympic Association and the University of the West Indies have joined forces to stage the camp on the UWI campus.
A highlight of the camp will see athletes competing in a dedicated event on the penultimate day, to showcase new skills and experience para sport classification, which is an essential step towards participating in major international competitions.
President of the Jamaica Paralympic Association, Christopher Samuda, says they are transforming Jamaica into a mecca of education and of practical training for coaches as well as athletes and administrators.
Christopher Samuda.
It is aligned with the ‘One Year to Go’ milestone for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which will feature the largest para sport programme in Commonwealth Games history.
Dean of the Faculty of Sport at the UWI, Mona, Dr Akshai Mansingh, pointed out that the GAPS initiative is one of the Commonwealth Games Federation, which is trying not just to be competitive in nature, but inclusive in nature for all para-athletes and people with disabilities.
Dr Akshai Mansingh.
SOURCE: https://nationwideradiojm.com/jamaica-to-host-gaps-training-camp-for-regional-para-athletes/
Jamaica Paralympic, UWI set to host second GAPS programme
Published: Saturday | July 19, 2025 | 12:05 AM | Gregory Bryce/Staff Reporter
The Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA), in collaboration with the University of West Indies (UWI) Faculty of Sport, is set to host the second staging of the Commonwealth Sport GAPS (Gather, Adjust, Prepare, Sustain) Americas & Caribbean Programme from July 21 to July 25.
In a press conference yesterday at the UWI Mona campus, JPA announced they would continue their partnership with the UWI following the successful staging of the GAPS inaugural programme last year.
GAPS is aimed at the development of inclusive sport pathways for para athletes and coaches across the Caribbean region.
This year’s staging will see eight para athletes and 18 coaches from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada and Guyana taking part in the programme.
Dr Akshai Mansingh, dean of UWI’s Faculty of Sport, welcomed the opportunity to once again host the GAPS programme.
“It was just a few years ago that we had a meeting where we were just talking about GAPS, and the principles and GAPS and how we want to bring it to this region,” Mansingh explained.
“It was a concept that we developed with great support from the Jamaica Paralympic Association. That support was important but I think what’s more important was the actual effect, which was that we had the camp last year.
“The fact that we’re having a second camp shows not only commitment but perseverance. It shows the importance of not just para sports, but that we’re fully committed to this and we’re absolutely delighted that we’re having a Caribbean camp.”
Suzanne Harris-Henry, secretary-general of the JPA, said the association is anticipating another successful staging of the GAPS programmes.
She said it is extremely important for both coaches and para athletes to be trained at the highest level, to ensure they can compete with pride on the world’s stage.
“The Jamaica Paralympic Association is very pleased to be a part of this initiative,” she said.
“For the first camp to happen last year and to know the second camp is happening this year, I am just very impressed with the dedication from all the stakeholders involved to ensure that all the para athletes from the Caribbean, and their coaches are trained.”
She continued, “It is important for our coaches to have the requisite skills to ensure that our athletes are on the world stage, and the Paralympic Games ultimately, to win medals because they have the right coaches to support them.”
Inclusive sport
The Gaps programme also earned the approval of the interim Commonwealth Sport president Donald Rukare.
Although unable to attend the press conference in person, Rukare expressed his comments through a video message.
“At Commonwealth Sport, we are fully supportive of inclusive sport. We believe in the power of sport to unite all athletes of various abilities and we’re particular happy that through the GAPS programme, we’re able to promote inclusive sport,” he said.
“We’re very happy that the second edition of the GAPS programme is being held in the beautiful city of Kingston.
“We wish you all the best and we hope you find this camp very insightful, very useful and we look forward to a successful holding of this second GAPS camp in Kingston, Jamaica.”
Jamaica’s Olympic long jump silver medallist Wayne Pinnock confirms he’s switching allegiance for financial gains
Howard Walker / Our Today / Author
Jamaica’s 2024 Olympic long jump silver medallist Wayne Pinnock confirmed his intention to switch allegiance to Turkey for financial gains, declaring that there is “life after track”.
The 24-year-old Pinnock, who won the long jump at the London Diamond League on Saturday with a leap of 8.20m, said he still loves Jamaica.
“I’m doing this for my family. You know, there’s a life after track, and I feel like we don’t really have a lot in the sport,” said Pinnock.
“So, if we could make as much as possible, I mean, I just gotta do it. I mean, I love my country. Loyalty don’t pay bills, as you all know,” he added.
Unconfirmed reports are that Pinnock would receive US$500,000 (J$80m) to make the switch to Turkey with added bonuses, depending on performance.
He, along with Olympic discus champion Roje Stona, Olympic shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell and promising triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert, the World Under-20 record holder, are seeking to switch allegiance.
“I’m just grateful that God gave me this opportunity, and I feel like if I had turned down this opportunity, I would have regretted it,” said Pinnock.
Having broken the Boys’ Champs 110 hurdles and log jump record in 2019 while at Kingston College, Pinnock went on and won the collegiate long jump double in 2022, winning the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles and making his first senior Jamaican team.
Pinnock reiterated that Jamaica need to do better with the athletes because if he is to get injured right now, he would have to dip into his own pocket.
“So, if I could get the opportunity where someone will look out for me, you know, because I’ve been doing good for my country, and honestly, I never got an email from no one saying congrats before. Not even an email,” he pointed out.
Jamaica Paralympic Association to Address KSAMC for Paralympic Day
‘Biggest Paralympic Games Ever’ Ready & Raring To Go
Less than a week after the 27th Olympics Games closed in a blaze of glory at Olympic Stadium in Stratford here, preparations are revving up for the start of what is being called the “biggest Paralympic Games ever” set to start in just over a week’s time.
Jamaica is one of 160 countries set to send over 4,000 athletes to the Games that will run from August 29 to September 9.
It will be the 14th staging of the event that started in 1948 by Dr Ludwig Guttmann and the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in London, and was known as Stoke Mandeville Games, an event for British World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries to coincide with the opening ceremony of the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
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