The King-Medas Pansy Adonis (KMPA) Foundation is taking sports up several notches by providing all-expenses scholarships to nine athletes to travel to Jamaica. The scholars, who are leaving on August 29th will be receiving free boarding, books, school, meals and training. The cost for each student, per annum, is US$9000 and will be borne by the foundation.
Going to Jamaica are: Queanna Taylor, Seon Booker,Cherissa December, Jennifer Byass, Troy Oxford, Odessa France, Vibert Mingo, Michael McKenzie, and DeJaun Grant. Not in the group photograph is Taylor. Returning athletes are Gabriel Lim and Omari Walcott.
KMPA has also sent four athletes from St Lucia to Jamaica on full scholarship and another five will shortly follow.
Jamaica has distinguished itself as a first-class country on training and producing world class athletes. Andy Medas-King, the founder of KMPA, is impressed with Jamaica. He said that the country’s approach to sports is geared towards bringing out the best in athletes through shrewd planning and development.
Those athletes who would be going into Sixth Form will not see their education interrupted. They will have access to continued education and will be able to write their examinations in Jamaica.
Medas-King bemoans the treatment of athletes in Guyana. “Like a student can get 21 CXC and CAPE yet still they’re not going to get a scholarship abroad because in Guyana there’s nothing in place for that. Both in Jamaica and the United States athletes would be exposed to some of the highest level of training while preparing them academically.”
Guyana has talent and we must be prepared to invest in our athletes, he said. If “we want gold medalists, but we are not putting a cent towards it” it won’t be possible. Medas-King further pointed out that the structural programme in Guyana has negatively impacted athletes, who, instead of moving forward, are pegged with no resources.
Reiterating the call for meaningful investment in sports and sportsmen and women, KMPA founder said, “there’s a lot of talking but nothing else and that’s simply because the powers that be don’t know what they’re doing, and they are afraid to ask for help.”
