HC ready to roll for BSSAC 2020

With the Powerade Barbados Secondary Schools Athletic Championships (BSSAC) getting off the ground today at the National Stadium, Harrison College are ready to put their best foot forward. Speaking to The Barbados Advocate late last week, Head of Physical Education Department at the school Ryan Leacock gave an update on how preparations were going heading into the 2020 edition.

Noting that they would be jumping right into the thick of things today in the Esther Maynard Zone, Leacock said that things should go well. “We feel very optimistic. We believe that our boys team has a good balance across the board – so we expect to be very competitive in the boys’ and we expect an improved performance in the girls’.” he said before going on to add that they expected to do well in the middle divisions. “We believe our Under-15 and Under-17 divisions are relatively strong. We have good representation in both the track and the field so we believe we can accumulate a number of points in both of those divisions.”

Noting that they faced a challenge this year due to the lack of some field equipment, Leacock said that they were lent a a bit of assistance in their preparations. “We were fortunate enough to have the Alleyne School partner with us and they gave us a day to go up there and use their High Jump equipment. We did not do as much work as we would like but at least we have an idea of who we have in those events.” However he did say that they were working to remedy their predicament. “We are presently trying to raise some funds to help cover our beds – we would definitely like our own beds to complement what we have here. We have a rubberised run-up and we have both shot put and discus concrete circles. So once we have the beds, that would complete the whole field set-up for us.”

With a major talking point being the transfer of athletes from school to school, Leacock said that the practice did not bother him much. “It has made certain schools more competitive than others and some are on the other end of the stick because some schools lost a number of athletes to other schools, but that is the nature of the game. I have no argument with, if a parent believes that their child would do better at School A rather than School B. Who am I to argue with a parent? So I don’t really get into the whole ‘transfer market’ business. Whoever is here, we teach and we work with,” he said. (MP)