The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

Varel Davis has served as president of the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) since 2015 and is now seeking another two-year term at Thursday’s elections. The former senior women’s national basketball team point guard will run for her fifth consecutive term and members will make their decisions at CH Reeves Junior High School tomorrow at 4pm. Davis and her executive team are hoping to continue with the strides they made for 30th year of GSSSA sports as the respective disciplines made their returns from hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Davis is in the running once again for president she acknowledged that the position comes with sacrifices to get the job done.

“I always believe that your work speaks for you,” she said. “This is my tenth year going in to be re-elected as GSSSA president and everyone knows that this job is not easy and requires a lot of work, late nights and evenings.”

Despite the endless sacrifices, Davis is motivated by her love for the children and their sporting successes.

“It is a lot and does get tiresome but the reason why I am still a part of this is because of the children and because someone did it for me. I want these children to succeed in whatever they do in sports,” she said.

The presidential candidate not only served as GSSSA president for years but also as a physical education teacher at CH Reeves.

With most sports making their return this year, Davis is excited for the possibilities of the 30th year, if re-elected.

“We do have plans for the 30th year of the GSSSA that I want to see happen but I do have a good team that will be along with me and hopefully the members will be the ones to decide whether we go back in but I am excited for this year,” she said.

Davis was passionate as she talked about how it felt to see GSSSA sports make a comeback in the latter part of 2022 and earlier this year.

“After that pandemic year I saw how great our season was in terms of all our sports since we started in September, just to see the kids participating and coming back was heartwarming,” she said.

Although she had some minor concerns about what competition and coaching would be like ahead of last year’s sporting events, she believes it went well and the kids were excited to be back.

Ultimately, Davis is looking forward to another successful and promising sporting year.

The physical education teacher first started her reign as GSSSA president in 2015 taking over from the past president Kevin “KJ” Johnson.

She is only the second woman to serve as president, with the first being Edna Forbes.