South Florida, Labor Day Weekend 2012 Post Event

Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
South Florida, Labor Day Weekend
2012
Post Event Report
Summary
Sunday and Monday September 2nd and 3rd the Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting
Network Inc. (JHSASN), hosted its 4th Annual Soccer and Netball Tournament. The
tournament, regarded as the premier South Florida alumni sporting competition, has once
again proven to be a highly competitive and heavily supported Caribbean sporting event.
This year became a landmark year for the organization, with the signing of a three-year
agreement with the City of Lauderhill, to make the Lauderhill Sports Complex the home
of the tournament
The Greater Ft. Lauderdale Convention &
Visitors Bureau (CVB) also matched the City
of Lauderhill’s agreement term with a similar
partnership, slated for the next three years.
This partnership in its first year truly showed
encouraging results, as travelers from
Jamaica, Canada, and, twenty-two
neighboring US states attended the
tournament. Attendees, who were polled from
across these territories, gave encouraging
remarks and high praises for the overall tournament, namely, the venue, the organization,
and the overall running of the event. Of the two hundred and fifty participants in the
survey, all gave positive responses about attending the tournament in the coming years
and also to tell others about the event. This solidifies the JHSASN tournament as a key
contributor in developing key programs and events that promote and support Caribbean
culture.
.
JHSASN Program
The Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) recently endorsed the Jamaica High School
Alumni Sporting Network (JHSASN) to galvanize support for the Jamaican Female
Football Program. The Jamaican Diaspora–USA Southern Region during its recent
Summit, equally recognized the need for support and has joined forces to help in a newly
Awareness Campaign to bring visibility to Jamaican Women Footballers, particularly the
Reggae Girlz.
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
Media
WPBT2 has agreed to film a documentary about Jamaican Women Football and began
filming the first segment this past Labor Day Weekend at the JHSASN Soccer & Netball
Tournament. They will next travel to Jamaica to complete the project
An Irie FM radio broadcaster traveled from Jamaica to provide live radio and internet
stream to the Diaspora in Jamaica, among those interviewed were Florida State
Representative Hazel Rogers, Chief Representative Officer, JNBS Florida Representative
Office Ms. Janice McIntosh as well as past students of the alumni teams.
WTVJ NBC 6 provided coverage of the Netball games and The Sun Sentinel covered the
event Monday September 3rd, and published an article on September 4th which described
the event as “…a reunion of a country…” See below for links to articles related to the
event.
Netball
Members of the Florida Netball Association (FNA) were involved as a part of the
JHSASN planning committee in planning this year’s event. The body covered a lot of
ground work in rallying the troops to participate in this year’s competition. This was
especially due to the fact that all attempts were made to ensure increasingly ‘authentic’
alumni participation. Interest was expressed by up to 10 teams, a 100% increase over last
year’s numbers. Eventually, with St. Hilda’s and St. Hugh’s not registering, and Dunoon
Technical pulling out at the last minute, a total of seven teams actually took the court.
This number fell short of our projected
increases of 60% over 2011.
The participating teams were Vere
Technical, this year’s winner, Ardenne,
Meadowbrook High; Mount Alvernia;
Excelsior; Herbert Morrison, and Queens.
For the first time, this year an invitation
was extended to the Florida Jetz, Men’s
netball team, to participate in an exhibition
match versus a combined team comprised
of the female participants.
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
Soccer
The Soccer tournament had 16 alumni teams participating in what has proven to be the
most attractive and competitive soccer since the tournament’s inception. Represented
teams include, Calabar, Camperdown, Cornwall College, Ferncourt, Herbert Morrison,
Kingston College, Mannings, Meadowbrook, Ruseas, St. Elizabeth Technical, St. Mary’s
College, St. Mary High, Titchfield, William Knibb, Wolmers, and Excelsior.
The competition saw 2011’s finalist Cornwall College and St. Mary High meeting again
in the championship game. The game went the distance with no goals scored and was
decided on penalty kicks, from which Cornwall College emerged victorious, walking
away with the $2000 cash prize and National Weekly trophy.
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
Alumni Village
Several Alumni
Associations
showcased their
school’s history in the
JHSASN Alumni
Village, while
competing for the best
school spirit prize.
Their participation
was also a way for
Jamaica high school
past students to come
together in a reunion
setting as they
network to build their membership base and display their schools history. Cornwall
College Alumni Association received the award for the best School Spirit on display.
Corporate Sponsors
Corporate Sponsorship was a challenge this year as Jamaica celebrated its 50th
Anniversary and funds from our past sponsors were primarily allocated to the Jamaica
Independence Celebration. However, we were able to secure sponsorship from the
following corporate sponsors:
Jamaica National Building Society, the City of Lauderhill, Goldson Spine Rehabilitation
Center, The National Weekly, Pineapples Café, Sheraton Suites Plantation, Lime and
True Juice.
Conclusion
As we celebrate the success of South Florida 4th Annual Soccer & Netball Tournament
we are grateful for the support of our sponsors, community businesses, volunteers and
staff. As we continue to grow, we direct our focus to the following questions: Where do
we go from here and how should we get there?
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
We realize that there needs to be some distinctive elements to our business strategy that
draws in sponsors and customers while producing a competitive edge. Therefore, our goal
is to increase the number of participating soccer teams to 24 and the Netball teams to 16.
We anticipate increasing our attendance to over 8,000 patrons, up from 4924 by
increasing our marketing efforts to incorporate more of the Alumni Associations.
Additionally, we recognize that our efforts and event goes beyond just the numbers, it
reflects the embodiment of our cultural school spirit and pride. These two characteristics
are often immeasurable, and yet, represent so much of our existence in who we are, why
we are that way, and how these institutions have shaped us. We acknowledge that The
Annual Alumni Soccer and Netball tournament is a competition in every sense of the
word, but one in which everyone wins and celebrates accordingly.
Join us in 2013 on Sunday September 1st and Monday September 2nd as we look forward
to our 5th Annual Soccer and Netball Tournament at the Lauderhill Sports Complex.
JHSASN Post-Event Media Coverage
SunSentinel: Jamaican high school alumni come together for soccer tournament, reunion
National Weekly: Cornwall College and Vere Tech win
National Weekly: Diaspora throws support behind women soccer in JA
South Florida Caribbean News: Jamaica Diaspora Southern USA Fall Summit outlines
new initiatives
JHSASN Pre-Event Media Coverage
SunSentinel: Jamaican high school alumni event comes to Lauderhill
National Weekly: Lauderhill to host JHSASN Tournament
South Florida Caribbean News: South Florida 4th Annual Jamaica High School Alumni
Soccer..
National Weekly: JFF endorses JHSASN tourney
National Weekly: JHSASN announces tournament and Alumni Village
Event Photos
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
JHSASN 2012 Welcome Reception,
Sheraton Suites Plantation
Sunday & Monday: Children dance
& play as parents watch the games
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
JH
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Jamaica High School Alumni Sporting Network Inc.
www.jhsasn.com
Fostering Education through Sports
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