 Yeah, it's that wonderful time of year again, high school track and field and it is so much better when it's on your home of champions. We are officially on the eve of the much anticipated 11th staging of the corporate era track and field championships, where schools from Kingston and parts of San Andrew will batter for the respective boys and girls titles. Our coverage begins at 11pm in Jamaica, that's 12 ECT on SportsMax YouTube, before we switch to SportsMax 2 at 3pm for Eastern Caribbean time. A number of finals will be held on Friday's opening day, including the 100 meters, so you'll definitely want to see those. It's important as well to note that we've already seen schools allocated points from events that took place at the Youngster Goldsmith Classic earlier this month. These events, the steeper chase, pole vault, discos and javelin throw could not be accommodated at Jamaica College, hence the move by the organisers. Let's take a look then at the standings heading into Friday. On the boys side, Kingston College leading the way on 49 points, that's ahead of Jamaica College on 43, and then Calabar in third position, I mean that 47 points for Jamaica College, and Calabar in third position on 43 points, Wilmas Excelsior and St George's also scoring to this point, 17 points for Wilmas, 10 for Excelsior, and 6 for St George's College, and this is what we have on the girls side now, Immaculate leading the way on 49 points, ahead of the defending champions Excelsior on 42, Wilmas on 33, Merle Grove, well yeah, they're having a good time so far on 23 points with Alpha and the Queen School rounding out the top six. We are happy to have with us live in studio guests from both defending champions at the girls and boys side along with major sponsors DigiCell, from last year's boys champions Kingston College, we are joined by their sports master Ricardo Smith, and from the defending girls champions, the sprint coach at Excelsior, hi Joseph Small, and we also have DigiCell's head of communication and corporate affairs, Ilan Parkinson, who is no stranger to sports max and to sports max sets, so I'm going to get things going with the sponsor because of course without sponsorship these meets cannot take place and they cannot take place at the level that we see them and at the level that we expect the corporate era championship to take place. Ilan, it's great to see DigiCell back on board and involved, we don't have DigiCell Grand Prix anymore sadly, but you're still involved with high school sports and with high school track and field. Tell you what, these development meets really make up for the DigiCell Grand Prix, which we believe really would have propelled a lot of these development meets to be staged at a higher, faster, stronger level, and that's what we're seeing coming out now. Hence the anticipation, hence the schools that may not feature that much in the boys and girls athletics championships, taking these very seriously, and that's why you see the closeness in the point standings especially when it comes on to the top three for example, and so the spirit of competition is alive and well, we want to power that spirit by ensuring that we continue to sponsor these development meets. Yeah, and you're involved not just with this me, but others as well? Oh absolutely, so we started out in January and like I said, it's just a weekend after weekend at the stadium or at other sports facilities, just to witness it all, to hand over the trophies and to encourage our youngsters to keep striving for greatness. They really look forward to it, this is almost, it's as if this is their championship, they own it and they come out with a strong spirit of competition, camaraderie, and at the same time, you know, respect for their fellow competitors, we truly admire that. Yeah, and of course this meet is one of those that I think would have benefited tremendously from the injection of the digital Grand Prix a few years ago, and it continues to benefit, no of course, and when you look on and see how far this come, you must be proud as a company because you have been part of this and not just after the glory, but from the get-go. But there you go, and it speaks to a grassroots to greatness approach when it comes on to developing our young people, right? You look at Usain Bolt who was, you know, just another name in the halls of athletics, youth athletics years ago, right? Of course, became world champion, the world's fastest man and still the man to beat, right? So it's part of our whole philosophy when it comes on to not only building our communities, but building people, you know, who of course live in the communities that we serve. So we're very proud to see where the Anthric Coppit area meet has come and we anticipate much greater things as it continues to help with youth athletics development. Yeah, very much the case. Let's hand over to the coaches now. Joseph Small, let me start with you, Excelsior, girls defending champions. This one is important for Excelsior as a school, isn't it? Especially on the girls side where you have been so good over the years. I mean, I mean, this championship is good to actually prepare the girls for, you know, the bigger champs to come. And it's important, I mean, every championship every year is important for us, so we can get a good preparation in going into the bigger champs and also to motivate the girls. So it is a very good look for them and I'm hoping a lot from this championship. I mean, at the championship as it is now, you know, we are pretty much behind Immaculate with seven points and, I mean, nine points ahead of Walmers. And I know that we have a good showing squad. Hence, man, Walmers might have a good vertical jump, but we're trying to see how best we can pretty much improve the jumps ahead of the championship and see how best we can actually improve on our shows along the way. Yeah, sometimes you can't read too much into the early standings because you really have to also look ahead and see what is to come. Based on the strength of your squad, in comparison to the two who are closest to you at the moment, Walmers and Immaculate, who do you think will be giving you the toughest challenge come late on Saturday? I mean, I think Walmers will. I mean, again, I think that they have a lot of challenges in the jumps, but all we need to do is to ensure that each athlete, you know, we have two in each event and try to see how best we can score and outscore them. They have some qualities on the chart, but we're trying to see how best we can outscore them also with those events. Yeah, of course, you have some individual quality on your team. One of the athletes, Deandra Kelly, who we will be speaking to in a while, she has dominated the 400 at corporate, stepped down to the 200 last year as well. What can we expect from her? I mean, as I said last year, she did the 200. I mean, this year we have a new additional event for her, which is the 400-meter hurdles. So she's no longer sprinting in the 200, so she will be contesting in the 400-meter hurdles, which I think that if she follow instruction and do what she's supposed to do, I guess she can actually get a medal in that event. So another additional 400 hurdle and the 400, I think that there's some quality in that event for her. Yeah, 103 already this season for the 400 hurdles, so we see how far she can go over the next couple of days. You know, because of the success that you've had at corporate, it's unlikely that you're going to win girls' champs, the big one. How important is this one for the Excelsior High Fraternity? Well, to be honest with you, we actually look at certain trends in to see how much points we can score at a corporate at champs, and then we try to see if we can do our best calculation in the possible event that we can pretty much score at the bigger champs. Like I remember 2022, we actually won corporate at champs with 429 points, and that here at the big champs, we came fifth. So what we do, we try to look at the quality. We, as coaches, we sit down and we sit at where we can put the athletes, which is the best event for them, and also to actually motivate the athletes for them to actually have a hype going into champs because, I mean, it's the same setup, it's the same rules and regulation, so it's the same setup whereas we have to ensure that two is in each event and try to see what they can score, and then we can make a decision from there. Yeah, let me get to my namesake. I can't say school's sake. For sure. Richard, talk to me about Kingston College at corporate this year. You're out front already based on the early events that we had. You are defending champions, and most people are saying your favorites as well. How is it looking? Well, it's pretty much looking very good for us so far. We are out by two points, and we should know J.C. is one of our main competitors. Also, Calabar is there, but we're looking forward to a great challenge, and we know that is not going to be a walk in the park for us at Kingston College because, you know, J.C. really, pretty much really wants it as well, as much as we do, and we're looking forward to making it be a success for us because it also gives us an identification in terms of moving forward for both champs coming up, which will defend our title as well there. Wow, so much confidence. I absolutely love it. So let's talk about clearly, you're going to be one of the favorites. If not the favorite, let me say for the big champs. So given that, how serious do you take this one, or what's the approach coming into corporate generally? We take this one very serious, and the boys are confident in terms of winning this one as well, because as I said, it will give us an idea and in terms of where we are now, and little mistakes are even where we need to fill in the gaps and so forth, because you know that on the day, you have some mistakes there, but to make the least mistakes, you win the championship. So we're pretty much prepared and confident going into this one for it. Yeah, I noticed that you've left out some big guns out of our key events. I mean, can you give us any insight into why a big 400 gun might be going 200, or a big 100 gun might only be running the relay? I don't know why he's laughing like this, you know. I'm just asking for insight here. No, it's just management of the boys that we don't need to put all of our athletes in certain events at this point at the time. So it's what we manage our team and that has been our success over the years of winning and coming forward. So it's not about so pulling a boy from there and putting other, but it's always manage our boys and make sure they have to go into the bigger championship. Corporate here is always a pre-champ source and we take it very serious. So we utilize corporate here to gear us forward champs itself. Yeah, one more. What's the general health fitness level of the squad and the injury concerns? Is everybody good? Everybody is good. Everybody is okay. The mental, because remember it's 80% mental, 20% physical. So the boys are mentally prepared going forward for the championship. You might have like a niggly near and there was nothing great of concern for us. Yeah, all right, gentlemen, it's been a pleasure chatting with you. It's all great to hear from the sponsors and the coaches, but there are those who want to hear from the athletes and Lance Whitaker is with a couple. Lance? Yeah, thanks Ricardo. It's a pleasure to be joined by Kingston College through Antoine Walken, who is actually the national record holder in the discos for the Turks and Caicos Islands and from Excelsior High last year's 400-meter class one champion, Deandra Kelly. I was always taught ladies before gentlemen, so I'll start with with Deandra. Your history in this event is pretty solid. What can we expect from your performances this weekend? You can expect a new personal best and also a gold medal. A gold medal? Yes. Okay, your coach just mentioned about 400 hurdles and 400 and 200 ability as well. Where do you stand with your trajectory based on what you are being asked to do this season? Are you comfortable with it? Yes, I'm very comfortable. If my coach didn't believe in me, he would have made me do the 400-meter hurdles. Yeah, and how much do you enjoy it? Because we've seen athletes skip between straddle both 400 and 400 hurdles before. It's the same distance. I suspect the hurdles are a little tougher because you have obstacles to clear. But what has the adjustment been for you? It was really that bad because I started doing hurdles already but I just didn't do it in competitions. So how has the training gone? How different has your training been now that you have the 400 hurdles as part of your project? It's been the same just that some days I do hurdles like two days after week but it's like basically the same. Alright, let me get a word here with Antoine who is from the Turks and Caicos. You already competed and accumulated some points for Kingston College, the defending champions at the Youngster Goldsmith meet because as we said well Ricardo mentioned earlier on that because of the facilities there is no javelin or discuss at Jamaica College. How did you feel about your efforts and the points that you've given to Casey so far? Well I finished in the highest position I have in class two so far coming second at that meet. That would accumulate seven points for my team. It was different of course because in the past three years competing at the corporate area champions you'd have always thrown discuss on a Saturday afternoon. I mean it probably was one of the later events that scored points so it was always critical to get to score well at the time of throwing discuss at corporate. So having done that event prior to the championships this year it takes a little bit of that pressure off that competitive pressure off but it still made for great fun. I mean we had a good time that afternoon at the YG Classic so we would have thrown actually before the gentlemen who threw for the YG Classic so it was almost like a different type of competition. So the first 10 of us from the different corporate area schools would have thrown first. So it was a different vibe but it was actually something that we welcomed because it allowed us to get a championship atmosphere much earlier in the season than normal. Yeah great you have Carifter Games bronze for shot put and the discuss as well. Shot put happens this weekend but you're telling me off here that you won't be competing. No I chose to give the opportunity to another one of my teammates. Yes. You know sometimes as team captain you have to make sacrifices for the rest of your team and so I thought that it probably would be better for someone else to compete this weekend and we look forward to champs. And how is this corporate area meet setting you up for the for champs. Well it's the first accumulation meet in terms of points. So it's the first time that you really get to see on paper just how good you and your adversaries are in terms of scoring points with the championship system that will be used at champs. So it's really and truly the best marker of what can happen at champs and what will happen at champs given mistakes and all as Coach Smith said earlier before the actual championships happened. So it's one of it's the biggest track meet of the season for us. Yeah Antoine there was a time not too long ago that Caribbean athletes would find throwing events beyond them from a global perspective. But we've you know seen the Frederick Dakers and the Anderson Peters and Walcott Kishon Walcott from TNT. How much inspiration are you taking from these world class athletes in your throwing events as a Caribbean performer? I mean all of it. When you can go to a track meet and see a Frederick Dakers, see a Travis Michael, these are men who thrown over 70 meters in their career. I'm a national record holder also in Frederick Dakers. My coach Kenny Jarena is actually also the national record holder for Jamaica for Hammerthru. So to see these people week to week day in day out with my coach it's non-stop inspiration because you look at what it takes to get to that level, what it takes to get to the level of going to the Olympic Games, what it takes to get to the level of World Championship medalists in Frederick Dakers. So just watching them compete, being able to be in that close proximity to excellence is second to none for a track and field athlete. And of course you're from the Turks in Cacos Islands, how long have you been in Jamaica at Kingston College and how much are you enjoying the experience? This is my third year at Kingston College and I always tell people it might have been the best decision I've made in my entire life. I don't think that there's a better school in the entire world than Kingston College and the fraternity that's there. Oh that's a shocking statement. Yeah, they said it, we all bleed purple and that's how long we're here. But the support that Cacos is second to none, the love that Cacos is second to none and the standard that we have for ourselves in terms of being excellent is second to none. Yeah, great to hear about the Cacos spirit. It's well documented and we all know about it. D'Andre, I want to get a quick word from you as well because about three or four years ago I was speaking to some of the coaches at Excelsior and I was told that there is a program for Excelsior to to build and to become a more potent force in schools track and field, not just at the corporate level because you've been strong there but at the national level. How satisfied are you with how Excelsior's team in track and field is growing? I am very satisfied. My friend that also came here, she's a part of a national team and I'm just saying I'm very satisfied. You're very satisfied and about the event itself, the corporate area because it's been a dominant playground I may call it for Excelsior. How far do you think Excelsior is away from transitioning from being just strong at the corporate area level to the overall champs, girls and boys champs? How far do you think you are away from becoming a bigger threat to the Edwin Allens and company? I wouldn't say that we are well far because we're in the top five. We've been in the top five at champs so it's not really a far way to go. And how soon might you beat them next year, two years from now? Two years from now? Yes, that sounds about right. Okay, well hi Del, hi Del and Edwin Allens and company. Look out Ricardo because the threat comes here from Deandra. I don't know what you're talking about Lance. I went to Calabar High School. The threat is to my right and to your left. By the way, thank you very much. Maybe Mr Small can help us with that one in terms of how far Excelsior is from challenging the big guns at the national level? As I said before we're doing we're taking it a step to try to see how best we can build a program. I mean one day we can challenge for the title but for now we're just going to continue to try to see if we can be the best girl school in the corporate era. I know that a lot of school coming for that position but I think once we continue to be dominant I guess at the end of the day they will see the purpose of it and then everybody will come on board and then one day we can challenge for champs. All right, sounds brilliant. That's a great way on which to end this segment. Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us on today's edition of the Sportsmax Zone. Remember tomorrow the Corporate Area Championship starts live on Sportsmax YouTube at 11 o'clock. By the way the meet gets on the way from 8 30 but we're live on Sportsmax YouTube at 11 a.m. we go live on Sportsmax 2 at 3 p.m. All the way to the end we will close with the 100 finals and you'll definitely want to see those. We're back live on Saturday on Sportsmax Plus which you can only find on the app will be on the CNTV and the CNTV app as well and we go live on Sportsmax at 12 30 p.m. on Saturday but if you want to watch between 11 when it starts and 12 30 when you go on Sportsmax you can go to the app and watch on Sportsmax Plus or the CNTV app as well. That was quite a lot but I'm sure you got it. Let's take a break. I'll be back with more on the Sportsmax Zone.