SDF and INSPORTS host eighth annual youth golf camp at Caymanas

Twelve children aged six to 18 are enrolled in the eighth yearly golf summer camp backed by the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS).

Major Desmond Brown conceived the programme, which runs with Caymanas Golf Club. Organisers want to bring golf to community-level players and widen what the campers can pursue. About 25 pupils from St Catherine and the corporate area are taking part.

Club coaches and players have walked the group through the basics of the game. Among them is Damian Spencer, ranked among Jamaica’s leading amateurs.

Sports Minister Olivia Grange made an unannounced appearance, spoke to the campers, and committed to adding one more week. The session had been set to close on July 24.

SDF General Manager Alan Beckford and INSPORTS Sports Coordinator Devon Wisdom also attended.

Minister Grange said, "It is important to expose our youngsters to the various sporting disciplines. Not everybody can be a runner. Not everybody can be a footballer or a cricketer. There are other disciplines. As a government through the Sports Development Foundation we provide subvention to over 40 sporting organizations that represent the various disciplines in sports. And one such discipline is golfing… And there are those participants who are here this year who were here last year. And we are in fact grooming youngsters to take up golfing as a career path."

Grange noted that campers can move from caddying into playing golf. She said, "we may just have a future star in this group."

SDF General Manager Alan Beckford said, "The Sports Development Foundation sees it important to assist with all sports in Jamaica which is a part of our mandate. This we have assisted with this golf camp at Caymanas Park for a number of years and we're not only assisting with the camp. What we have done, we now have a program where the campers in the program who do well have been advanced to a weekly program and the hope, eventually, is that we'll be able to have golfers from this program in the amateur ranks and eventually graduate to the professional ranks."

Speaking with CVM Sports, INSPORTS Sports Coordinator Devon Wisdom said, "We have been here from 2018… here for 8 years now and we this camp is mainly for kids in and around Spanish area. So, we take from four schools in the area, and we have them here in the program now. So, what we have we have the program packed, in terms of we have the grassroot here we have the trainers we have new persons. So, what we are looking forward to now – we have in the camp we after the camp we pick out the top golfers and we have them in a weekend program, so they get some specialized training some personal training. So, what we are hoping for in the future to get them into a club, get them into a more formal setting so they can actually go out and represent Jamaica in the in the in the near future. So, if we have any sponsors out there… anybody that really aspire to push the Gulf, they can come and give some support in sponsorship or so."