Varel Davis was voted back into office for a fifth consecutive term, serving as the president of the Government Secondary School Sports Association (GSSSA). The members showed their confidence in her during the elections at C.H. Reeves Junior High School on Thursday.
Davis was overwhelmingly voted back into office, 14-1, over Shantell Rolle who opposed her. She said she is thankful for the members for supporting her and her team.
"They supported me and my team's plans in what they want to see accomplished. We are very grateful for them for supporting me. They know that this job is a lot of work and they know I put my all into what I do and that is why they supported me," Davis said.
Also being elected were Kendal Campbell as first vice president, Thurman Johnson as second vice Keesha Pratt-Johnson as secretary, Fiona Tucker as assistant secretary, Neketa Sears-Knowles as treasurer and Tyrice Curry-Davis as assistant secretary.
Davis, who has been at the helm since 2015, was happy to get another victory and she said they will be celebrating their 30th anniversary this year.
"It feels good to get another victory. I am excited to be back as president. We have a lot of things planned as it is our 30th year. I am excited that I have some persons around me who want to be a part of this and see us continue to do the work that we set out to do," Davis said.
She and her team want to have a retiree banquet for persons who gave their time to coaching or teaching and have now retired. She said there is no date set for the retiree banquet as yet.
One of the goals Davis has is to see more of the student-athletes receive scholarships to go off to college.
"We want to see if our coaches can get more of our kids off to school, especially when they graduate. We have some very athletic children in the high school sector so we need our coaches to give more effort into training so more athletes could get more scholarships," Davis said.
She added that the Ministry of Education & Technical & Vocational Training Sports Unit is looking to put on nationals in all of the core sports this year. Davis said they will be switching a few sports around this year. They are starting the year off with volleyball, and then cross country, basketball, track and field, softball, baseball and then soccer. There is the possibility of bringing on sports like golf, sloop sailing and rowing, she said.
Davis said they are looking to bring back a cheerleading competition. She also said they will look at the possibility of providing championship rings for the various winners, but that depends on the funds they are able to raise.
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