We Have Much to Celebrate

Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published on Monday February 21, 2022

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

How exciting to hear the Beijing Winter Olympics commentator enthuse that Jamaica ‘punches above her size’ as we watched our Four-Man Bobsled Team whizzing down and around the icy course on Friday evening.

Last week, the cheery Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian raced down the course in the Women’s Mono-Bob event, and vigorously waved the Jamaican flag post-race. We are grateful to President of the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, Chris Stokes for persevering despite several administrative headaches and to the Sandals Group for their valuable sponsorship.

Last Thursday, our ‘Reggae Girlz’ triumphed over Bermuda 4-0 in the CONCACAF Women’s Championship Qualification round at our National Stadium. We had travelled to France in 2019 to see our Girlz play in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and it was sheer joy to see that goal from Havana Solaun against the highly ranked Australian team in Lyon. We were a happy crew with a few surprises – vuvuzelas were banned but somehow this sweet quiet lady in the group produced one when the goal was scored and didn’t we make noise!

We noted a quiet young Jody Brown giving her all in the games. What a joy to see her developing into a strong player, scoring the first goal for Jamaica, and now a valuable member of the Florida State University team, winners of the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer College Cup.

Of course, the queen of the field was Kadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, who scored the last two goals, after being unjustly deprived of a penalty. Shaw is now a celebrated member of the Manchester City Women’s Football Team, scoring a hat-trick against Leicester City last October, to take her team into the FA Cup Semis. In that post event interview, she remained humble: “It’s a team effort. I’m scoring the goals but if it wasn’t for my team, it wouldn’t be possible.”

We remember what a hard time the Girlz had getting funding for the World Cup, and the dedication of Cedella Marley in obtaining support for them. We hope they will not be facing the same difficulties with the Jamaica Football Federation this time around.