CHAIRMAN of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Ivan Persaud has urged the four NSC scholarships awardees, Owen Adonis, Emanuel Archibald, Alque Stanley and Natrena Hooper to take the programme seriously and be worthy ambassadors of their country. Persaud made the appeal yesterday when the four awardees visited the NSC headquarters on Homestretch Avenue, where they met with Director of Sport Christopher Jones.
The four awardees were each given a four-year scholarship late last year, with Adonis, Archibald, and Hooper, attending the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus in Jamaica, while Stanley is at the GC Foster College also in Jamaica.
“For the recipients, I want you guys to understand that it’s very important that you take this very seriously, and to make sure that you perform more than your best, not only academically, but also in your respective sport.
“Make sure that you understand that you are a role model for a lot of youngsters who are coming into sport now … and be a good ambassador for Guyana,” Persaud said.
According to the NSC chairman, the initiative is really needed for the development of sport locally.
“We cannot have elite athletes without scholarships, without being afforded the opportunity to have free meals, free accommodations, free studies, and most of all, the opportunity to train at the highest level if we want to not only participate, but to really compete at international sports,” Persaud pointed out.
The initiative was coordinated by NSC Commissioner and UG Sports Administrator, Lavern Fraser-Thomas, who said that the scholarships were based on University of Guyana’s performances at the UWI invitational track and field competition last year in Jamaica.
Apart from training, Adonis will be studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Studies, Archibald will pursue a Bachelors’ in Sociology, while Stanley will be pursuing a Bachelor’s in Education and Hooper a Bachelor’s in Social Science (Gender Development Studies).
The four awardees, while accepting that the training is much different from what they have been accustomed to, promised to make full use of the opportunity offered.
The scholarships are expected to cost the NSC some $16M.