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Leaford Grant leaves KC with Champs win
April 01, 2025
Having announced ahead of the championships that he would be stepping down as head coach after this year's ISSA GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships, Kingston College's (KC) Leaford Grant is pleased to have ended his tenure with the Mortimer Geddes Trophy.
Grant leaves the North Street-based school with an enviable record, having claimed five of the six Champs titles he has contested.
The veteran coach, who is leaving his post because of personal reasons, said, while he would have liked to continue at the helm, he is enjoying the celebrations which have been buoyed by KC also celebrating their 100th anniversary.
"It is indeed a good feeling. I wouldn't regard it as a pleasure, because no one wants to leave KC once you're here. But I thought that the time has come for me to take some time off," Grant said while celebrating the win at the school's campus yesterday.
"It's not a pleasure but, at this moment, I'm enjoying the feeling knowing that we've won our centenary Champs."
SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Grant made special mention of the school's community for their support in cheering on the team throughout the championships, as well as the several alumni who gave a helping hand to the programme.
As he now prepares to step away from the team, he also encouraged his athletes to continue their winning performances to maintain the school's position at the top of Champs.
"It is very important for us, and the school community really supported us. We don't regard not just the kids here at the school, but the wider KC fraternity and the efforts they made to support.
"The boys gave an exceptional performance. The boys lifted as usual because they are from KC, and I just want to wish them all the best and hopefully they will rise again to the occasion."
EXTENDED SUPPORT
KC's principal, Dave Myrie, also lent his voice in tribute to the outgoing coach, whom he praised for maintaining the school's top standards.
Myrie explained, while Grant will be stepping down as head coach, his influence with the school will continue, as he will be helping out in small areas wherever he can.
"I think this now, four or five years consecutively, now that we've won it so a great kudos to our head coach Leaford Grant and his coaching staff and all the other support staff," the principal said.
"He will continue to be a part of the programme and we have already discussed that. Maybe not in the day-to-day grunge and grime like he has been doing now."
Myrie continued, "I told Leaford, maybe from about 2015, that it is difficult for me to envision a KC programme without his involvement and still can't see it, so, while he may step back a bit, he will still play a part."
