Corey Bennett, head coach of two-time ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships winners Hydel High School, has cast serious doubt over his team’s participation in this year’s championships due to a lack of financial support from both the school’s administration and the Ministry of Education.
The prestigious championships are scheduled for March 24–28 at the National Stadium, but Bennett said the programme is in urgent need of funding to meet basic operational costs.
“We need financial support because generally, the school doesn’t give us any support. Everything comes out of my pocket,” said Bennett. “Even to go to a track meet and even to feed the team, the school gives us zero support. The Ministry of Education gives us no support, and it is like they want us to stop the programme.”
Bennett also said that prize money earned from winning last year’s girls’ title was redirected by the school to the Ministry of Education, and it is now inaccessible to the track programme.
“We would have won some money even at the last Champs to pay off our bills from last year, and the administration at the school took it (money) and gives it to the ministry, and we can’t get the money, so don’t know if we are going to go Champs this year because we can’t afford it,” he said.
‘Feeling frustrated’
Bennett noted that efforts to get clarity on the money from the Ministry of Education have, so far, proven unsuccessful.
“The school doesn’t give us any support, and the Ministry would have taken whatever money that we would have won at Champs last year and not given it back to us, and we are now left with a decision to make whether we are going to go to Champs or not,” he said.
“I am feeling frustrated because I called persons from the ministry who the money was sent to, and they are not taking me on, and the high school principal is not answering our request, and it is just we as track team alone trying to survive, and it is not working,” Bennett stated.
It is understood that the Champs winners each received $1 million from the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association.
He has further placed blame on both the school administration and the ministry for the current situation.
“The principal is the main person to blame and the Ministry of Education because they don’t even give us a bottle of water, and I have been talking for years. Everything is out of my pocket,” he said.
“We have to cut the team from 70 athletes to 40 because we can’t afford it. We can’t afford to go to meets locally, and the meets that we go overseas, it is those people who invite us pay for it. We have only been to one meet, at JC, and we can’t go anymore right now because we can’t pay for it,” he underscored.
When contacted, Hydel principal Dr Walton Small declined to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, efforts to get a comment from Minister of Education Dana Morris Dixon proved futile as severals calls to her mobile phone went unanswered.
Bennett also highlighted that the coaches receive no compensation and even transportation costs are personally funded, while parents and managers assist where possible.
“They don’t pay the coaches anything like that, and even if we have to get a bus, that comes out of my pocket,” he said. “We don’t get the parents and kids involved in things like this because we just do what we have to do and try to shelter them from this,” Bennett said.
“We would have a few parents who will contribute some food now and then, and our managers will do whatever they can, but the school is just zero.”
Hydel captured their second Girls’ Champs title in 2025 after amassing 277 points to dethrone Edwin Allen, who finished second with 266 points. It was the school’s second title in three years, having first lifted the crown in 2023.
Despite the uncertainty, Ferry-based Hydel will have several top athletes returning this season, including Shashana Johnson, Shemonique Hazle, and Zavien Bernard, as they attempt to secure a third title in four years.
