Seven student athletes off to the US

Seven Vincentian student-athletes are part of the Kerosene Lamp Foundation All Star Student Athlete Learning Tour, which runs from July 20 to August 13.{{more}}

The Kerosene Lamp Foundation is the brain child of this country’s lone NBA basketballer, Adonal Foyle.

Consolo Adams, Leandru Edwards, Zanif Sandy, Erasto Da Silva, Norlene Ferrary, Zanique Foyle and Selisha Hazell are now in the USA on the Learning Tour.

Adams, 17 years old from Barrouallie, Edwards, a 16-year-old from Calliaqua and Sandy, 17, from Canouan, are senior all stars, having been on the inaugural trip with three other youngsters in 2010.

The debutants are Da Silva, a 13-year-old from Canouan; Ferrary and Foyle, who are both 14-year-olds from Union Island, and Hazell, a 14-year-old from Bequia. They were selected from last year’s all stars live-in three-day camp, held here on the mainland.

They, along with chaperone Anthony Sergeant of Bequia, left the state yesterday, to team up with Adams, Sandy and Edwards who left last week Thursday.

All four expressed their excitement in making their first trip to the USA, when they spoke with SEARCHLIGHT on Sunday.

Da Silva said: “It should be a great experience for me, because it is the first time going to the States; it is an opportunity for me to push forward for what I dream for and hoping to get better at basketball.”

Ferrary revealed that her objectives for the trip are “to learn more about basketball and enjoy myself.”

Sharing similar sentiments was Foyle, who, however, has his sights set on making it to the NBA.

Hazell is eagerly looking forward to getting to know more about basketball and meeting new people.

The students start off their three-week tour with a week in the San Francisco Bay area, where they will camp out at Foyle’s home.

After that, they will travel to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles for another week. Before closing out their trip, they will participate in an Athletics and Academics three-day camp for at-risk youths in Oakland.

Thanks to several donors, the seven Vincentians, along with two from the Parramore neighborhood in Orlando, Florida, will be provided exciting educational opportunities.

And, it will not be just work for the children, as they will be taken to dinners, amusement parks, theatres and other places for fun and exploration activities.

The student-athletes were selected from the athletics and academic camps which the Foyle’s Kerosene Lamp Foundation conducts regularly on St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The all-star student athletes, after being identified, are mentored with their academics being a strong component for them to maintain their status in the programme.

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

The camps spread their operations to Trinidad and Tobago in 2010 and Dominica last year.

Adonal Foyle played in the professional basketball circuit from 1997 to 2010.(RT)