Athletes off to continue NSC scholarships in Jamaica

By Treiston Joseph

The National Sports Commission (NSC) will be shelling out 16 million dollars over the next four years to cover the expenses of four athletes who will be based in Jamaica on athletics scholarships.

With all four athletes having started their scholarships in 2016, the NSC saw it fit to update the public on the first time venture by the commission before the athletes return to Jamaica for the resumption of the academic year.

Owen Adonis, Natrena Hooper and Emmanuel Archibald will be based at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus, while Alque Stanley will be based at the GC Foster College. All four athletes performed well at the UWI Games in Jamaica last year and as a result were recruited for the scholarships.

Lavern Fraser-Thomas, who is the Sports Coordinator at the University of Guyana as well as a Commissioner on the NSC, sees the performance of the athletes paving the way for a sports programme at the University of Guyana.

“Even though things are kind of on the move as it pertains to an actual sports programme which is endorsed and fully supported by the UG administration [it] is something that we are really in need of and I am hoping that the administration have seen and recognised the kind of opportunities that the students of UG can be afforded as a result of their abilities,” Fraser-Thomas noted.

Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Ivan Persaud, expressed his joy for the athletes and urged them to be good ambassadors for Guyana.

“We can’t have elite athletes unless they have opportunities like these to study and train and we are happy to facilitate such an initiative. It is now on you the athletes to train hard every day and be the best you can because you will be role models to those after you,” Persaud pinpointed.

In addition, while all four athletes agreed that they have been adjusting well, Stanley probably laid out the situation best while thanking the NSC.

“First of all, let me say thank you to the NSC for affording us all this opportunity. [I] think we have been adjusting well, the training is a bit hard because it is the first time we are been exposed to morning and afternoon sessions, the conditions are good, and I think once you can cook you can survive,” Stanley mentioned.

Adonis will be doing a Degree in Management; Archibald a Degree in Sociology; Hooper a Degree in Gender Development; and Stanley a Degree in Sports Administration.