By Avenash Ramzan
‘Never stop believing in your dreams.’
That was the salient message West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran left with students of the Sophia Drop-In Centre during a visit to the facility on Thursday afternoon.
The wicketkeeper/batsman was accompanied by fast bowlers Jayden Seales and Anderson Phillip, and they interacted with the students, taking photos, signing autographs and embracing the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s ‘I CAN’ campaign.
“Today I just want to continue inspiring you guys. I also had an experience in life where I almost lost my life and I felt like I had no direction. That was like 6-7 years ago and today I’m standing in front of you as the West Indies captain, achieving my dreams of being a professional cricketer,” Pooran told the attentive youngsters.
“So I just want to tell you guys never stop believing in your dreams, because dreams do come true. So never stop believing. Just work hard, continue to be discipline and continue to be great human beings.”
In January 2015, at the age of 19, Pooran was involved in a vehicular accident in Trinidad, injuring his left leg, which required surgery on his ankle and knee. He was returning home after training when incident occurred.
Such was the severity of the injuries, it took Pooran six months after the accident, before he could walk again without assistance.
Today, the 26-year-old is a mainstay in West Indies limited-over sides and is a much sought-after player in T20 Leagues across the globe.
“We know sometimes life is difficult and we have challenges, but I believe life is like a story, and at the beginning of the story life isn’t easy, but this is our challenge,” Pooran shared during his visit to the Centre.
“Today you guys are getting an opportunity to be here in this beautiful place where everyone is taking care of you, and I just want you guys to really appreciate it. Everyone here is sacrificing the time to make you guys better human beings.”
Chabela Lord, Manager (ag) of the Care Centres, which fall under the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, said the students and caregivers are very much appreciative of the visit by the West Indies trio.
“They (the students) were looking forward for this since earlier in the week. It’s a plus for our children to be able to have access to these cricketers in person. So we’re definitely thankful and appreciative. I trust that organisations and teams can very much do the same when it comes to opportunities like these,” Lord said.
West Indies will wrap up their four-game visit to Guyana on Saturday with the third and final ODI match against Bangladesh at the National Stadium, Providence, starting 09:30h.
Bangladesh lead the CG United three-match ODI series 2-0.
Prior to the ODI series, West Indies won the third and final T20 at Providence to make a clean sweep of the three-match series, presented by Walton.
