Just like in the United States, high school students in Jamaica play sports against other schools in competitive organized matches. The big sports here are cricket, track, and football. Each has its own season.
Cricket is a team sport that originated in England and spread across the British Empire in the 19th century. Players use a bat and ball, and the sport is somewhat similar to baseball in the United States. However, the rules are fairly complicated and the pace of play is slow- some matches last 5 days! Interestingly, Jamaica plays some of its international matches as a part of the “West Indies” team: a group 15 of English-speaking countries and oversees dependencies in the Caribbean that includes Grenada, Barbados, and Saint Lucia. According to locals, cricket reinforces the strong cultural ties that these countries share.
Jamaica is also famous for producing world class sprinters. Track is a popular sport for many reasons; one of them is that it requires very little equipment to enjoy. Jamaican Usain Bolt has become an icon here, and for good reason. He currently holds the world record for the 100 and 200 meter dashes, and holds the world record along with teammates for the 4 x 100 meter relay. He won gold medals in all three events at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. His current record for the 100 meter dash is 9.58 seconds, a truly amazing feat! Bolt is featured on television commercials here as a proud son of this island nation. Many young Jamaican boys and girls hope to follow in his footsteps.
Soccer (football as it is called here), is a widely-enjoyed spectator sport at both the high school and professional level. The Jamaican premier league is well established and a handful of Jamaican players are currently playing in Europe. Famous reggae artist Bob Marley (whose birthday was February 6th) was known to be an avid and very talented soccer player. There is a bit of a buzz about an international friendly match between Jamaica and Argentina scheduled for this evening. We hope to be able to catch the match on a television tonight and will be rooting for the “Reggae Boyz.”
SOT