Outstanding athletes get scholarships
An outstanding young softball star has been awarded the government’s first full sports scholarship to a tertiary level institution. 16 year old Keneshia Sutherland of Camalote Village in the Cayo District will be assisted with tuition and fees, books as well as lodging while she studies accounting at Belize Technical College. Sutherland has played with distinction for Belmopan Comprehensive High School, been voted MVP by Durley’s Cristal Senior Team twice since she began playing for them in 1996 and helped Belize win gold and silver in the Bahamas and Honduras. Tuition and books will also be provided to another young athlete, 18 year old Emma Wade Harris, a second year student at Technical. Her award is in recognition for her achievements at the 7th Central American Junior Athletic Championships in Guatemala last month. Harris won three gold medals and set a meet record in the hundred meter sprint.
In other sporting news, the National Sports Council is threatening to take action against the Belize National Basketball Association for not complying with their regulations. According to Sports Council’s Director, Evan Garnett, the B.N.B.A. has not produced the minutes to their annual general meeting, their latest constitution, the names of their executive body or their financial reports for the past year, even after the council sent three letters requesting the information. Garnett says that the association must submit their reports in order to receive government financial assistance even though the government provided the association with twenty-one thousand dollars to cover the travelling costs for the under 17 CARICOM basketball team. According to the Basketball Association’s President John Saldivar, however, the Sports Council’s press release today amounts to a personal attack since the B.N.B.A. has received all of the Sports Council’s requests and in fact sent all the necessary information after the first letter. Saldivar added that all the financial reports for the CARICOM games including an audit by Marion Usher have been submitted to the Council since January of this year.
