Sports Development Plan Reaping Success At Maggotty High School

The five-year sports development plan at Maggotty High School, in St. Elizabeth,  has been reaping success after the institution placed 10th nationally, following the recent 2021 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championship.

This is the highest level the school has achieved after years of competing in the annual sporting competition.

Now, all eyes are on the 50-year-old institution whose motto is: ‘Striving for excellence through hard work and discipline’.

The school returned from Champs 2021 with two silver medals and amassed 21 points.

This was achieved after eight grader, Charehon Connally, came second in the Class 3 Boys’ 1500m race; seventh grader, Zachary Wallace, placed second in the Class 3 Boys’ 400m race and sixth in the Class 3 Boys’ 200m race; and eight grader, Yoshane Bowen, finished fifth in the Class 3 Boys’ 1500m race.

Head Coach of the Maggotty High School’s track and field team, Terone Miller, told JIS News that the school entered with four boys, whose discipline and hard work paid off. The other entrant was Dillon Rhoden.

“Here comes a little youth,  Charehon Connally, and he actually was the record holder for Western Boys’ and Girls’ Championships Class 4 Boys 1500m. I knew that getting him prepared as early as possible, he could actually get on the podium at Champs, which he did,” Mr. Miller said.

“I heard about another young man,  Zachary Wallace. We reached out to him, his parents liked the idea, we took him around here, started the whole development with him and he is one that actually climbed the podium as well,” he added.

Mr. Miller also noted that a girls’ team also entered Champs 2021 but finished in 26th position on five points overall.

The athletes got prepared under the school’s training camps and coaching sessions that began in October 2021, whilst following all the necessary protocols.

With the bar now set higher, Maggotty High School is wasting no time in getting prepared for the next athletic season.

“The main objective is to try and remain in the top 10, and try and create as much from the Lower Class. These boys, they are all Class 3 moving into first year Class 2 in 2022. So, we are going to have a different set coming up to fill those spots,” Mr. Miller outlined.

In the meantime, Principal of Maggotty High School, Sean Graham, said the institution’s recent accomplishment in track and field should be attributed to the five-year sports development plan.

He noted that this is the second year of the plan, indicating that the plan is reaping success and there are no plans to stop, despite the ongoing pandemic.

“This was not a case of luck. It was a case of discipline and hard work. What we did was we took the students in and despite all the challenges, they came and worked,” Mr. Graham said.

“They worked during the Christmas holiday. They worked during all the major lockdowns. We ensured that they were together. The coach made himself available, the manager of the team was always there. The results came in and we are extremely grateful for that,” he added.

Mr. Graham said that the next step is to get the school’s facilities upgraded to facilitate an expansion of the sporting programmes, including track and field.

He noted that the school has already sent a few proposals to a number of bodies, “because we have challenges with the playing field, funding and training.”

Fourteen-year-old Zachary Wallace, who will be entering grade 8 in the new academic year, praised Coach Miller for pushing them to perform their best.

“We are just trying to stay injury free and put in the work,” he said.

Fourteen-year-old Charehon Connally said he and Zachary  have been in track and field since their years at primary school.

He said he hopes to claim an additional medal next year.

“[Being an athlete] helps to give me the highlight and maybe in a few years it can help me to get a scholarship,” he said.