Hazell shines through

Thirteen-year-old Shelisa Hazell has immediately caught the eyes of the local and international coaches at the Adonal Foyle All Star Basketball Camp, and was inducted in the Kerosene Lamp Foundation (KLF) Mentorship Programme.{{more}}

Hazell, a student of the Bequia Community High School, was the lone inductee announced last Friday afternoon at the Closing and Presentation Ceremony at the Arnos Vale Netball Complex.

However, an undetermined number will be named later, joining the first six inductees, Jemmile France – Bequia; Zanif Sandy – Canouan; Nemiah Alexander – Mayreau; Consolo Adams – Barrouallie; Leandru Edwards – Calliaqua; and Azizah Stowe – Union Island.

Sandy, Edwards and Adams were part of the recent three-day camp and also travelled to Dominica earlier this month as mentors to a camp held there, also hosted by KLF.

The Mentorship Programme forms an integral part of the All Star Student Athlete (ASA) programme, whose main objectives are to turn promising young basketball players into successful student-athletes and to provide future opportunities for scholarships to help pave the way to their individual success.

The Kerosene Lamp Foundation is the brain child of this country’s lone NBA player Adonal Foyle, who organizes the camps.

Executive Director of the Kerosene Lamp Foundation, Shiyana Valentine, told SEARCHLIGHT last Friday at the Closing and Presentation Ceremony that the three-day live in camp at the Belair Government School was a huge success.

“It was a great success, the interaction of the kids, their enthusiasm, wanting to know when there will be the next one,” Valentine said of the first live in camp here, under the KLF banner.

“The camp was more in depth as the coaches were able to get into the areas which they needed to emphasise,” Valentine added.

Valentine said that apart from the Basketball fundamentals, passing, dribbling, shooting and defending, the topics of sports psychology, taking control of oneself and HIV/ AIDS, especially the latter, was “hammered home”.

The Executive Director also revealed that getting the over 100 participants to read for at least thirty minutes each day was one of the achieved objectives of the camp.

“Also getting Adonal (Foyle) to speak to them more on a one on one basis on leadership was great as they all lapped it up,” the Executive Director explained.

Looking into the future, Valentine said: “We are always looking to improve, we are always encouraged to do better, so we are looking to build a grassroots round the year, after school programme”, she projected.

“Ultimately, though, we are looking towards a Play to Learn Centre, where Basketball is paired with a learning centre doing community service, as we endeavour to produce well educated leaders,” Valentine stated.

The Adonal Foyle camps began here in 2003, with emphasis mainly on athletics, but have since grown to include an academics component.

The camps have spread their operations to involve Trinidad and Tobago in 2010, and Dominica earlier this month.

Besides the camps and the ASA, the Adonal All -Star Achievement (AAA), has emerged as the KLF continuously broadens its spectrum. (RT)