Tony Becca

In recent times, Jamaicans, and especially those who love cricket, have been asking what has happened to sport in Jamaica. To them, sport is not what it used to be - neither in terms of participation nor skill.

Well, the answer, or certainly one of the answers, is that Jamaica needs more volunteers - more people like Marguerite Cooke of blessed memory.

In years gone by, the base of Jamaica's sport was volunteers - people who, some of whom played a game or two, some of whom were skilled practitioners of a sport or two, some of whom never even played anything at all but dedicated their lives to spreading the gospel of sport among young people.

Gathered together

Some were men and some were women, some were busi-nessmen, some were profession-als like teachers and doctors, some were ordinary working class people and they taught sport in schools, in youth clubs, in clubs and in fact, any place where two or three were gathered together.

In those days they were many, they were spread across the land, every afternoon they came out and they did not only organise sport, they did not only teach the various techniques of sport, they also groomed the young boys and the young girls around them and, therefore, played an important part in the development of the young Jamaican - the boys and girls who became the men and women, the grandfathers and the grandmothers of this country.

Today, however, but for a few blessed people, the age of the volunteer is no more. Every one, including the wealthy among us, including those who benefited from the spirit of volunteerism and who, but for a few, refuse to give back, wants money before they will devote five minutes of their time to a school, to a youth club, to a club and to a sport in an effort to encourage young people to play, to develop the skills of some talented young person and to help in the grooming of some young person that he or she may become a credit to the society even if he or she does not become a genius in sport.

One of the blessed few was Marguerite Cooke, who died two weeks ago and who was buried one week ago.

As one of Jamaica's finest female hockey players on the right wing, Marguerite played sport and as manager of Jamaica team, as an administrator in hockey, as president of the Jamaica Women's Hockey Association, as a member of the managing committee of the Lucas Cricket Club and as honorary secretary of the club, she was a volunteer of the highest order.

Like a mother

And she was more than that. She was like a mother to the young boys at Lucas - and especially so to West Indies representative Chris Gayle and to Jamaica representatives O'Neil Cruickshank - now president of the club, and Delroy Morgan.

As someone who was always in the kitchen, as someone who would get out of her bed and assist in transporting the cricketers to matches, she was even more than that.

To Lucas, she was, at times, like the cook, the waitress and the driver.

I remember as a boy at Lucas, there was a lady of similar disposition towards the club, although her name was Vera Wright, every member, young and old, knew her as "Auntie V". She had a chair she used to sit in every Saturday and Sunday at cricket matches and long after she died years ago that chair was always referred to as "Auntie V's chair".

Marguerite Cooke was a volunteer par excellence, she was a volunteer who still had time to groom her son - Dr. Howard Cooke, she was a volunteer who still had time to groom her daughter - Dr. Tasha Cooke, who is also one of the country's finest ever hockey forwards, and I sincerely hope that Lucas CC and the Port Authority of Jamaica, to whom she was employed for many years, to whom she also gave service beyond the call of duty, will see it fit to remember her in a manner that will make her memory live on for a long, long time.

Thank you Marguerite, or Meg as you were known in your days darting down the wing.

Mrs. Marguerite Cooke (right), president of the Jamaica Women's Hockey Association (JWHA), smiles gleefully as Mr. Rolf Riedel of Arnold Otta Meyer Ltd. presents a cheque to her for the national team's stay in West Germany. The presentation took place at the Jamaica-German Society's House, 60 Lady Musgrave Road, St. Andrew. - File