Minister for Education, Shawn Edward, is imploring young student-athletes to take their scholastic journeys seriously while pursuing various sports disciplines.
The Minister’s comments followed a meeting with US-based tertiary institution Springfield College, to gain insight into ways Saint Lucia and the college can collaborate to help achieve the state’s goal of having one university graduate per household. There are currently two Saint Lucian student athletes at the school, namely Nathan and Alyssa Elliott who both play tennis.
Sports scholarships offer a pathway for talented Saint Lucians to pursue higher education while advancing their athletic careers, often abroad. These opportunities arise through local and international collaborations, including partnerships with foundations and sports academies.
Edward, a former Minister for Youth Development and Sports, indicated that young, talented sportsmen and women must combine natural abilities with a hunger for learning and development in the classroom to achieve full success in their endeavors.
“When I was the Minister with Responsibility for Youth Development and Sports between 2011 and 2016, and there was the creation of the NICE program, one of the things we attempted to do at the Ministry of Sports was to have a sports scholarship desk where we were trying to accentuate that nexus between sports and education,” Edward said.
“To the young athletes we have in the school system, it is okay to have natural talent, it is okay to be excellent in your respective sporting disciplines, but it has to be complemented by a very decent performance in the classroom.”
With the rise of athletes like Julien Alfred, who has gained professional success through the collegiate ranks, local athletes can aspire to follow a similar path to achieve their goals. Earlier this year, nearly a dozen Saint Lucian footballers took up scholarships at various institutions in the USA, with dozens more on scholarships for athletics, basketball, swimming, and more.
Mate is si misinformed…..it’s the other way around. You should rather advocate that al students participate in some sports as it helps balance academics , reduce risk of non communicable disease that plagues our nation, diabetes hypertension etc. As education minister why not advocate that every primary school has a half basketball court …a half ..not even a whole. Why not advocate with your min of sports that all students must have active subjects for 5 hrs each week outside seating in a classroom? Why not make education more about healthy lifestyles than about 21 ccxc subjects. You all are misinformed and spreading the wrong message!!!