By Neil Armstrong
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| Karl Hale, organizer of the Jamaica Summer Games and Wellness Festival, and Angella Bennett, regional director - Canada, Jamaica Tourist Board |
A new initiative promoting sports,
wellness, music, culture and Jamaica will take place in Toronto during the
third weekend of August.
Jamaica Summer Games and Wellness Festival
is the brainchild of Jamaican-Canadian Karl Hale who notes that it will feature
seven beach and land sports on August 17 and 18 at Ashbridges Bay in Toronto.
This is to support Helping Hands
Jamaica Foundation, a charitable organization he founded, to build their 25th
school in Jamaica.
Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation seeks
to improve the lives of the next generation of Jamaicans and their communities
by creating a world-class education system through investment in
infrastructure, resource materials and expertise.
Hale is expecting approximately 500
athletes in different sports this year and anyone interested in participating
can register online. Approximately 300 people have already registered and the
sports ambassadors are Daniel Nestor, tennis; Dwayne De Rosario, soccer;
Jonathon Power, squash; and Nick Kypreos, hockey.
The sports are beach tennis, squash,
tennis, pickleball, beach soccer, beach volleyball and beach ultimate frisbee. There
will also be yoga, a wellness talk series and live music.
Hale, who played Davis Cup for Jamaica
for 10 years, says he came up with the idea for a couple of reasons; one, to
have a new revenue stream to help the Foundation build schools, and two, sports
and health and wellness are things that they know.
He is currently the tournament director
of the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament in Toronto and the director of Racquet
Sports at the prestigious Donalda Club.
“We have a good partner, the Jamaica
Tourist Board, and we feel there is a need in the community for something like
this because it’s a little bit different than what’s out there. It’s not your
normal reggae festival or something like that; it’s more health and wellness,
family and sport and we see an opportunity to grow this tremendously over the
next few years.”
He believes they can get to 10,000 athletes
which helps Brand Jamaica and Helping Hands create awareness get more people on
their school builds and grow their charity.
Hale says he chose Ashbridges Bay
because it is a beach and they wanted the feel like that of a beach in Jamaica
and they are also trying to promote the island as well.
“We thought it’s a unique idea because
everybody thinks Jamaica Summer Games in Jamaica which potentially we can grow
to that. In the future we do have a vision to do that but right now it helps
promote Jamaica and Helping Hands, people love it and the sports are doing
really well – the registration – so we hope a lot of people come out for the
health and wellness centre on the 17th and 18th of
August.”
Hale has plans to travel to Jamaica in
July 2020 with 40 volunteers to build the 25th school in Port
Antonio, Portland. Helping Hands Jamaica
Foundation has built schools in Westmoreland, St. Elizabeth, Trelawny, Kingston
and other parts of Jamaica. This year it built schools in Treasure Beach and in
St. Thomas.
“We just try to look and whoever is
interested in hosting us, and Port Antonio was really eager to host us. We had
a good experience last time so we’re going back.”
Food For The Poor is their build
partner on the ground so they will be helping volunteers of the Foundation to
construct the school.
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| Karl Hale in conversation at the media launch of the Jamaica Summer Games and Wellness Festival at The Real Jerk restaurant |
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| The Jamaica Summer Games and Wellness Festival includes beach volleyball, beach tennis, beach soccer, beach frisbee, pickleball, tennis and squash |
Angella Bennett, regional director –
Canada of the Jamaica Tourist Board, says this is a very new concept to Toronto
and thankfully Hale came to the JTB with the idea to support Helping Hands
Jamaica Foundation in Jamaica.
“We came onboard, we are the sponsor
because we want to promote Jamaica’s health and wellness awareness in Toronto.
It’s becoming quite a popular destination for health and wellness and we
thought why not have a summer games activity that will speak of sports fun
activity in a very healthy environment.”
The aim is to promote Jamaica as the
main destination for health and wellness.
Bennett said Jamaica is dedicated to
sports tourism and health and wellness, and has the perfect environment for it.
“When you do yoga in the morning it’s
beautiful to do it with the sunrise in Jamaica. All our hotel partners are
offering very extensive health and wellness programs within the hotels so we
want to make sure that that awareness is known in Toronto.”
She said Canadians are a very big part
of the numbers of travellers to Jamaica “and everyone is looking for a vacation
where they can disconnect from all the technology that is so connected to
them.”
“They want to disconnect and have a
special time in Jamaica. We want to offer Jamaica as an option for them.”
The media launch for the Summer Games
and Wellness Festival was held at The Real Jerk restaurant, owned by Jamaican-Canadians
Lily and Ed Pottinger, in Toronto and where international stars, Rihanna and
Drake shot a music video for “Work” a few years ago that went viral.
To register for the sports competitions at the Jamaica Summer Games and Wellness Festival, go to: www.jamaicasummergames.net
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