JOA boss Samuda calls for collective fight against COVID-19
President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) Christopher samuda made an assertive call for the fight in sport against the COVID-19 pandemic as he delivered the keynote address recently at the third edition of the All india Association of sports for All (AIASFA) global webinar series.
Participants from across the continents of North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania witnessed Samuda’s call that “the global village must now rise against a common enemy in safeguarding sport not only as a meaningful way of life but as an invaluable tool for social transformation and accord”.
As the pandemic continues to grip the world and brings deaths in its wake, Samuda was resolute in his exhortation that “we must never let fear paralyse us with fatalistic indiscretion and inaction in not observing relevant health and safety protocols and displaying proactive humanity. Even in the midst of the tragedies of a pandemic, we must never, we must never negotiate with defeat.”
An advocate of finding opportunities and solutions in the midst of crises, President Samuda appealed to the global audience stating “as citizens of the world with passports of hope inspired by faith, while understanding and meeting the challenges of the pandemic, we, all of us in the global that present themselves.”
Instancing opportunities in governance, business, digital technology, sports management, athlete and coach training, education and development, Samuda said that “there are during, and indeed will be POST-COVID immeasurable opportunities which we must seize in transforming the sporting landscape and human environment as we collectively seek to redefine and safeguard our way of life in sport.”
Webinar speakers spoke convincingly of the value of “sports for all” in combating ill-health and societal diseases and the imperative, as a response to the pandemic, for counties to give primacy to instituting best practices in sport health management.
Former Indonesia minister of youth and sports and the current chairman of the Indonesia Sports for All Federation, Hayono Inman, delivered an insightful presentation on the values and advantages of a fit society and its importance to economies.
As the world grapples with the COVID -19 pandemic, Samuda gave this advice: “We have a strategic opportunity in the midst of the pandemic to ingrain in the world psyche and consciousness the values of courage, determination, inspiration, solidarity, humanism and sustainability which are founding principles of Olympism and Paralympism.”