Kingston, Ja­maica – In the wake of an ex­tra­or­di­nary year for Ja­maican ath­let­ics, the na­tion is turn­ing its spot­light to the mas­ter­minds be­hind the suc­cess: the coach­es.

Mark­ing Na­tion­al Coach­es Day 2025, Olivia Grange, Min­is­ter of Cul­ture, Gen­der, En­ter­tain­ment and Sport, led the trib­utes, recog­nis­ing the “im­mense con­tri­bu­tion” of coach­es from every cor­ner of the is­land.

“Our coach­es are the ar­chi­tects of our ath­let­ic dom­i­nance,” Min­is­ter Grange stat­ed in an of­fi­cial re­lease.

“Their dis­ci­pline, ded­i­ca­tion, and ex­per­tise not on­ly pro­duce world-class ath­letes but al­so in­stil in­valu­able life skills in our young peo­ple.”

The an­nu­al cel­e­bra­tion, of­fi­cial­ly pro­claimed by Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al Sir Patrick Lin­ton Allen in 2022, comes at a high point fol­low­ing what the Min­is­ter de­scribed as a “re­mark­ably suc­cess­ful 2025 Ath­let­ics sea­son” for both ju­nior and se­nior teams.

The Ja­maica Track & Field Coach­es As­so­ci­a­tion (JATAFCA) re­ceived spe­cial praise for its piv­otal role in ini­ti­at­ing the push for a na­tion­al day to ho­n­our coach­es.

The part­ner­ship be­tween the Min­istry and JATAFCA will cul­mi­nate in a ma­jor awards cer­e­mo­ny on No­vem­ber 22, 2025.

The event, un­der the theme “Sus­tain­abil­i­ty of Ath­let­ics Through the De­vel­op­ment of Coach­es,” will cel­e­brate the long and dis­tin­guished ser­vice of track and field coach­es across five cat­e­gories of ex­cel­lence.

Echo­ing the Gov­er­nor-Gen­er­al’s call, Min­is­ter Grange urged all cit­i­zens to par­tic­i­pate in the day’s ac­tiv­i­ties and to sup­port coach­es year-round.

“The suc­cess of Ja­maican sport, from the pri­ma­ry to the elite lev­el, is a di­rect re­flec­tion of the cal­i­bre and com­mit­ment of its coach­ing pro­fes­sion­als,” the Min­is­ter af­firmed, salut­ing all coach­es, past and present.

CMC