Kingston, 24 September 2024 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced the appointment of the Board of Directors of Institute of Sports Limited for two years from September 8, 2024.

The members are:

• The Honourable Ian Forbes, Chairman
• Mr Howard Chambers, Deputy Chairman
• Mr Ronald Anderson
• Dr Michelle Holt
• Mr Alan Beckford
• Mr Glen Nelson
• Mr Emile Spence
• Mrs Shirley McLean Brown
• Mr Julian Patrick
• Mrs Florette Blackwood
• Mrs Suzzette Ison
• Mr George Ledgister, ex officio

Minister Grange has also announced that Mrs Florette Blackwood, Mr Leslie Harrow and Mr Newton Amos have been added to the Board of Directors of the Sports Development Foundation as of September 9, 2024 until the Board expires in April 2026.

The SDF Board is chaired by Mr Leslie Campbell.

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Kingston, 9 December 2022 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, opened a multipurpose sports court and gazebo at Papine High School on Friday (today).

“I am pleased that you have been blessed with a new multipurpose court,” said Minister Grange. “Facilities like these help athletes to develop their skills, improve their performance, and help to build a culture where the majority of our people will regularly participate in sports.”

The sports court was built to facilitate netball, volleyball and basketball. It cost J$5.7M.

Minister Grange said: “The Government has been providing these multipurpose courts through the Sports Development Foundation. As Minister, I’ve been working to provide schools across the island with upgraded facilities as part of our programme to build sports from the grassroots to the elite level.”

Minister Grange said that with the installation of sports facilities at schools across the country, local federations “now have an opportunity to work with schools to train and develop our young students; and I call on the federations to give support to our schools.”

Construction of the gazebo was a 2019 National Labour Day Project which focused on child safety.

The gazebo, which cost J$2.9M, has a ramp for wheelchair access and has space for the staging of events, a study area, and can be used for classes.

Minister Grange encouraged the students to make full use of the facilities.

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Kingston, 10 June 2021 (JIS) - The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says the Government continued to invest in improving the country’s sport infrastructure, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In spite of the pandemic, we were working. We used the opportunity to do things that did not involve large gatherings and to get the infrastructure up to date during the slow period,” she said, during her contribution to the 2021/22 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representative, on June 8.

Providing an update, Minister Grange informed that the Government is procuring a new pump for the pool at the National Aquatic Centre, which should arrive and be installed by the end of the month. 

“In the meantime, we hired divers to clean the pool, so that our aquatic athletes are still able to use the facility,” she said.

Minister Grange further informed that the running track inside the National Stadium was recently resurfaced at a cost of $60 million. 

“The track manufacturers also created and installed an outdoor basketball court made especially for Jamaica. We will monitor the performance of that surface… to see if it will be a suitable [material] to replace the outdoor netball courts, which are currently far from ideal,” she said. 

In the meantime, the Minister informed that the Government continues to pursue the redevelopment of the National Stadium and the Trelawny Stadium.

Our development proposal, which is currently going through the Public Investment Management system, will see both facilities being transformed over a period of five years into modern stadia with state-of-the-art facilities that will be able to sustain their operations. In fact, the Trelawny Stadium will be at the centre of sports tourism and entertainment,” she said.

Minister Grange further noted that the Government is continuing to invest in facilities at the grassroots level, pointing out that during the last financial year, $117 million was spent through the Sports Development Foundation Jamaica to put in and upgrade sports facilities in 20 schools and communities. 

On another matter, the Minister said “our major challenge and greatest success” during the difficult period was working with the various federations to achieve the safe reopening of the sport sector. 

“The well-designed protocols have served to keep our athletes, coaches and officials safe. The Ministry has also facilitated the vaccination of several of our athletes and coaches as they get ready for local and international competitions,” Minister Grange noted.

She encouraged Jamaicans to continue to observe the protocols, “whether they are vaccinated or not”, and urged athletes who are not yet vaccinated to do so now. 

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Kingston, 22 March 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has provided national women’s cricketer, Rashada Williams, with assistance to continue her university education.

Williams, who is reading for a first degree in Physical Education, has been given Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (J$500,000) to assist with tuition expenses.

Presenting a cheque to the young cricketer, Minister Grange said:
“In this particular case, I’m extremely proud because I happen to be the Member of Parliament. Rashada lives in my constituency. She’s a product of Spanish Town.

Through the Sports Development Foundation, she’s getting assistance to continue her education. And I really want to thank the Sports Development Foundation for the support that they’re giving her [and I want] to encourage her to continue to strive to be the best.”

Rashada Williams said the assistance would “fill a major gap” as she moves to complete her undergraduate studies.

The young cricketer dreams of becoming “a cemented player in the West Indies team” and a source of “empowerment to the future generation”.

Minister Grange described Williams as a inspirational cricketer who “did not get a chance to play in school [as she was not allowed to play on the boys’ team]; there was not a female league that she could participate in, but in spite of that, she continued to work and she continues to do well”.

Minister Grange said “I really want to encourage her. Whatever support that can be given to her through the Sports Development Foundation I will advocate for her; and I know that she will make Jamaica proud.”

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Kingston, 22 January 2021 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has expressed deep sadness at the passing of the Jamaican footballer Luton Shelton.

The 35 year old had been ill for some time.

“I am really saddened at Luton’s passing. I was hoping he would have made a turn around although his illness was one that was a great challenge. I continued to hope and pray for him,” said Minister Grange.

In October 2018, Minister Grange presented Shelton with a cheque for J$5million from the Sports Development Foundation towards his medical care after he was diagnosed with ALS.

“I will surely miss him,” said Minister Grange. “I know the entire sports fraternity will miss him and they are mourning as well. Let us remember his family in our prayers.”

Shelton who is the only person to score four goals on his International debut for Jamaica in 2004, went on to earn 75 caps while scoring a record 35 goals for his country.

Shelton who is one of Jamaica’s most successful footballers, represented Wolmer’s Boys High School before moving on to Harbour View and made his mark overseas playing for Sheffield United in England and other clubs in Sweden, Norway, Turkey and Russia.

Minister Grange said it was a difficult week as the nation also lost the football administrator Danny Lyn of Constant Spring fame and former Camperdown High and Harbour View player Andrew Williams.

“In this week we’ve lost three outstanding men who were dedicated to sports and have left indelible marks in football. Each of these men were role models who will continue to inspire the next generation of Jamaican achievers,” said Minister Grange.

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Kingston, 18 November 2020 – The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has paid a balance of just under US$71,000 which was outstanding on the hospital bill for long distance runner, Kemoy Campbell, who had collapsed while competing at the Millrose Games in New York City in the United Sates in February last year.

Campbell had developed a heart problem and after receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, ultimately had to be fitted with a pace maker.

Initially, the Ministry’s Jamaica Athletes Insurance Plan (JAIP) paid US$31,677.00 towards settlement of his medical bill while he also paid an amount through his personal insurance plan but there was still the outstanding balance of US$71,000.

Minister Olivia Grange said, “The Ministry felt duty bound to assist Kemoy. He has performed very well for Jamaica and in fact, as we know, he fell ill on the track. And so the least we could do to show appreciation and gratitude to him was to assist in his time of great need.

“I am happy that through the JAIP and the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) we were able to give Kemoy the level of assistance that concluded settlement of his medical bills and that he is doing well.

“I continue to encourage athletes to sign up for the Jamaica Athletes Insurance Plan and maintain contact with the Sport Division of the Ministry to ensure that their health and welfare matters are in order.”

In expressing gratitude, Campbell said, “My family and I would like to sincerely thank Minister Grange for helping me with my medical bills. After my second incident in March 2020, the Minister reached out to me and told me that I shouldn’t worry about the bills, as she was willing to help me pay for my medical expenses following my surgery.
“This meant so much to me because my hospital stay and surgery were very expensive. Knowing that the Minister and Jamaica were there for me during this tough time helped me get through the months following. I really appreciate everything that the Minister and Jamaica have done for me and will always be grateful.”

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Kingston, 27 March 2020 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says athletes who had been in training for the Olympic Games will receive financial support from the government next week.

Minister Grange had announced financial support, under the Athletes Assistance Programme, to offset expenses while athletes prepare for Tokyo 2020.

“We have finally signed off on the list of eligible athletes with the local governing bodies and we can now move to make direct deposits to the accounts of each of the approximately 150 athletes,” said Minister Grange on Friday.

Athletes representing seven disciplines — track and field, karate, gymnastics, rugby, canoeing, aquatics and boxing — will benefit from the Athletes Assistance Programme.

Each athlete will receive $J80,000, which represents the full commitment for the month of March during which athletes had to put their training programmes on hold in light of the decision to postpone the Olympic Games due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister Grange said in light of the developments, she had asked the Athlete Assistance Programme Committee, led by Mike Fennel, to review the initiative in discussion with the local governing bodies and make recommendations on the way forward.

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Kingston 24 April 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced a “new approach to how the Ministry makes decisions” and how it will "direct investments in sport.”

Minister Grange outlined the new approach in a meeting with national sports federations and associations on Wednesday (today).

In explaining the reason for the changes, Minister Grange said:

"Public funding of sports is an investment for which good returns are expected. Therefore, we must review and update our processes to ensure that public money that is invested with sport governing bodies is well managed. At the end of the day, we must all be able to say we received value for money from our expenditure on sport.”

Under the new arrangements, the Sports Development Foundation will no longer consider requests for funding from sports federations/associations without a full accounting for monies being requested. Federations/associations are also now required to submit outstanding financial reports to be eligible for further financial support.

Minister Grange made clear that the new requirement will also apply in the case of requests to use national sports facilities. The new approach also has implications not only for sports governing bodies but for other entities that organise and promote competitions and which seek sponsorship from the SDF and from the Ministry.

“I believe this new requirement will help us to bring about greater accountability — which is something that we all desire,” said Minister Grange. She continued: “Greater accountability will also make local federations more attractive to private sector sponsors. There is no downside to having greater accountability.”

The Minister pointed out that some national federations/associations do not routinely submit financial reports, and urged them to move swiftly to become compliant with the reporting requirements.

Minister Grange said:

“If you receive over five million dollars from the Sports Development Foundation as subvention, you must provide audited financial statements annually. If you receive below five million dollars, you need to submit a financial statement.

“The organisations that receive monthly subventions must submit quarterly reports.

“And so I’m putting everybody on notice. If [your quarterly reports are] not submitted, your monthly subvention will be held. In other words, I’m saying to you, we have to get our house in order, we have to respond to you when you call on us, so you need to get your house in order so that we, as a team, can proudly say to the people of Jamaica ‘your money is being wisely spent’”.

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Kingston 1 March 2019 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has announced a special allocation to Special Olympics Jamaica to enable the national team to compete at the World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi later this month.

“As Minister of Sport, I commit to supporting the Special Olympics programme in Jamaica. And in times like these when our athletes are preparing to represent us in the world games, special funding is also made available. We have provided this time around J$2M,” said Minister Grange at a handing over ceremony at the Ministry’s headquarters today (Friday).

The special allocation is provided by the Ministry through the Sports Development Foundation and is in addition to the subvention that Special Olympics Jamaica receives each month from the SDF to fund its programme.

Wishing the athletes well ahead of their departure, Minister Grange told them that they “represent the best of Jamaica — our heart, our spirit, our strength and we are extremely proud of you.”

The 2019 games, which will take place in the UAE capital between March 8 and 22, is being billed as the most unified Special Olympics World Games in the history of the Special Olympics.

Jamaica will send a 98 member delegation — with our athletes competing in Aquatics, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Bocce, Football, Volleyball, and Rollerskating.

Kingston, January 8, 2019 (JIS) - There are plans for the installation of additional running tracks in Kingston and central Jamaica.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Hon. Olivia Grange, made the disclosure during her visit to observe repair work at the Stadium East running track in Kingston on January 7th.

The upgrading work is scheduled to be completed before the upcoming Gibson McCook Relays, the Minister noted.

Ms. Grange said that discussions regarding the installation of additional tracks have been “very fruitful”.

“Where we are now is that we are looking at a couple of other tracks being done, one at a high school, maybe in partnership with a private-sector entity, and another track, which will be sited to facilitate athletes in central Jamaica,”

Minister Grange said.

The Minister pointed out that the installation of the synthetic tracks will be two main objectives of the Ministry for the next fiscal year.

“We are still going to pursue our infrastructure development programme at various other sporting and entertainment facilities… but I hope we will be able to install two additional tracks in locations to be announced in the next fiscal year,” she added.

Ms. Grange said she has received reports with the possibility of developing four to six running tracks across Jamaica. She noted that the reports were done following visits to the locations by officials of the Sports Development Foundation and representatives from the BSW GmbH, the company contracted to repair the Stadium East running track.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that the running track at Catherine Hall in St James will be refurbished.