St Catherine High school coach, Lennox Lindo, says winning the ISSA Southern Conference Under-16 high school basketball title proves that with a proper programme and the right application, schools can still win trophies by developing their own talent.In recent times, recruiting and transfers have become a major part of the local high-school sports landscape, but Lindo, who led St Catherine’s junior team to a 2-1 series win over St George’s College at the National Indoor Sports Centre last Friday, says development can still lead to titles.”I am really proud of these guys because they have been developing for quite a while. Most of them have been together for three, four years, so it’s good to know that development can still win championships,” he said.”They have come up gradually through the stages, so that is what I am really proud of. They came up through Under-14 together; last year they lost in the Under-16 semi-finals; and now, this year the hard work had paid off,” he told The Gleaner.In Friday’s 59-57 game-three win, Daniel Jones scored 21 points for St Catherine, while Swayveon Henry had 14 points and eight rebounds. Akeem Ellis top-scored for St George’s with 12 points and 10 rebounds.BEATING THE FAVOURITES”St George’s were the favourites as they were unbeaten up to the final. We played them in the zone at their school, and they beat us by ten points, so I knew we could compete against them. After (losing) game two, we changed our tactics,” he added.Meanwhile, the Under-19 final will go to a decisive game three after defending champions Calabar levelled the series 1-1 following a 57-52 win over Camperdown.Shamar Shand, with a game-high 18 points, and Maliek McCarthy, with 13 points and 12 rebounds, were Calabar’s leading players. Kemar Hurd top-scored for Camperdown with 13 points.Game three will be played tomorrow.
QPR boss Harry Redknapp named a strong side for the FA Cup third-round game against Sheffield United, but there are places on the bench for youngsters Darnell Furlong – son of former R’s striker Paul Furlong – and Reece Grego-Cox.Redknapp makes seven changes, with Rio Ferdinand, Matt Phillips and goalkeeper Alex McCarthy among those included in the starting line-up to face the Blades, who are without the suspended Chris Basham.Top scorer Charlie Austin also starts for the home side, as does Jordon Mutch. QPR: McCarthy, Onuoha, Caulker, Ferdinand, Traore, Phillips, Mutch, Henry, Hoilett, Fer, Austin.Subs: Murphy, Hill, Isla, Vargas, Zamora, Furlong, Grego-Cox.Follow West London Sport on TwitterFind us on Facebook
Roberto Martinez described his team’s 2-1 triumph at QPR as his most satisfying win since taking over as Everton manager.The Merseysiders, who went out of the Europa League against Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine on Thursday, were victorious at Loftus Road courtesy of Aaron Lennon’s 77th-minute goal.“It was probably our most satisying win since I’ve been at Everton for many reasons,” Martinez said.“The amount of emotions we shared on Thursday, we got back really late and this season we have found it difficult to get a win after European games.“We are adapting to being a team that is competing in Europe and in domestic competitions.“We had to cope with the goalscoring threat Queens Park Rangers are going to throw at you. It wasn’t a day for a technical performance – we had to be a strong group of players.”Martinez added that Everton striker Arouna Kone will be assessed after suffering what looked like a nasty knee injury, while Romelu Lukaku is nursing a hamstring strain.See also:Everton condemn QPR to another home lossFollow West London Sport on TwitterFind us on Facebook
EDMONTON – Fresh off uniting Alberta’s feuding, floundering centre-right to forge a unified opposition, Jason Kenney begins work in 2018 to build on those gains ahead of a provincial election.Regardless of the outcome, says Calgary pollster Janet Brown, Kenney’s audacious unity plan galvanized Alberta politics in 2017 and reordered its landscape.“He hit four home runs and there were lots of naysayers that said he couldn’t do it,” Brown says. “He laid out a five-point plan and he has just effortlessly been ticking off (the boxes) one at a time.”Kenney, a former Conservative Calgary MP and Stephen Harper lieutenant, won the Progressive Conservative leadership in early 2017, arranged a merger with the Wildrose Opposition and its leader Brian Jean, and got that merger ratified by both parties.He then beat Jean to become leader of the new United Conservative Party and, on Dec. 14, won a seat in a Calgary byelection.Kenney has made it clear he will campaign on fixing an economy that has been decimated by low oil prices.Premier Rachel Notley has responded by saying she won’t make things worse by slamming spending into reverse. Her government has continued to borrow billions of dollars for day-to-day operations and capital projects, while increasing the minimum wage and imposing a carbon tax.The economy is rebounding, but Notley faces criticism that it isn’t going fast enough, or that her efforts have saved the present at the cost of a future debilitated by debt payments.Kenney, in his UCP victory speech, laid down the gauntlet on the core issue, saying his party seeks, “people who understand the creative power of a free economy, that we cannot mortgage the future of the next generation through fiscal irresponsibility.”Brown, along with Calgary political scientist Duane Bratt, says jobs and the economy are uppermost in Albertans’ minds and the unifying force for Kenney’s party.“The unifying theme is anger at the NDP and the desire to throw the NDP out,” says Bratt of Mount Royal University.Adds Brown: “The economy is the thing. He’s had some missteps on social issues, but as uncomfortable as Albertans may be on individual social policies, their concern about the economy and their desire to get the economy on track is outweighing all of those things.”Social issues are what Notley’s NDP believes could ultimately be Kenney’s Achilles heel.He has taken a laissez-faire approach to social issues, tying institutional compassion to the economy while broadly urging tolerance for all.“We are one step closer to a government focused on prosperity so that we have the means to be a compassionate and generous society,” he told supporters after he won the leadership. “We don’t care in this party what god you worship or who you love.”Kenney, however, has been criticized over the issue of gay-straight alliances in schools.The clubs are designed as safe havens for kids who may not turn to anyone else, or can’t look for help at home. Nevertheless, Kenney has said that teachers need to have the authority to tell parents when their children join an alliance — unless that could bring a child to harm.Advocates and the NDP say that threatens to out children to their parents and could lead to kids avoiding the groups altogether. Kenney says teachers have the tools to handle it.The Alberta Teachers’ Association says it doesn’t want the responsibility and instead endorses a bill passed this fall by the NDP that makes it illegal for anyone to tell parents when a child joins a ga-straight-alliance.The bill was opposed by the UCP.Brown says Kenney is taking a pragmatic approach.“He’s smart enough to know that he’s never going to be the choice among people who are highly preoccupied with social issues,” she says.“But if he can just assure those people who are only moderately concerned about social issues that they don’t need to fear him, then that’s just really what he’s got to do.”