The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has issued a call for applications for management team positions for regional and international games, both summer and winter, covering the period from 2025 to 2029.
JOA president Christopher Samuda emphasized the importance of selecting the best talent for these roles, highlighting that sports management is a professional endeavour that requires managing not just talent but also the aspirations of athletes striving for excellence. “It’s an outgrowth of corporate governance in sport,” Samuda stated.
The JOA has approved experienced corporate figures and seasoned sports administrators, many of whom are CEOs and shareholders of key companies contributing to the nation’s GDP, to manage its teams.
JOA secretary general and CEO Ryan Foster reinforced this, saying, ““It is simply this: Our country deserves the best talent, and at the JOA, this is not only a philosophy but a modus operandi that continues to define who we are and those to whom we commit the nation’s business in sport.”
Over the past five years, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in sports management through the JOA’s “Stamina” educational product and the IOC’s Solidarity Advanced Sport Management Course. This has validated president Samuda’s decision that no director of the JOA shall serve on its games management team. “There are so many professionals who want to table their talent, who wish for a games experience as they self-actualize in sport in the nation’s interest. So give them a chance to embrace, as we are doing as directors, the Olympic experience,” Samuda remarked.
Foster, who also serves as chairman of the Games Commission of the JOA and a member of the technical commission of Centro Caribe Sports, stressed the importance of integrity in the selection process. “To earn confidence in your selection, you must not play games but open the sport to those who wish to meaningfully play, change, and transform the game,” Foster said.
President Samuda underscored the need for an objective and results-driven approach in sports management. “For the JOA, it’s not ‘eeny, meeny, miny, moe’ or ‘riddle me this or riddle me that’ in selecting persons. There is no guessing this riddle and perhaps not. It’s all about, as I have said on many occasions and in various fora, forensically and discerningly unearthing servant leadership that understands objectively that you commit not to yourself but to others and a country,” he said.
According to a notice on the JOA’s website, the selection process will commence after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, scheduled to be held from July 26 to August 11.
