The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN another attempt to search the entire country for young Bahamian talent seeking to use sports as a vehicle to higher education, the Frank Rutherford Elite Development Foundation began hosting a basketball and life skills clinic in San Salvador.

“This camp allowed the students to become a part of the foundation database so we can keep track of the students and help the student and the parents direct their children into athletic activities to improve their skills in efforts of getting an athletic scholarship in the future,” Rutherford said in a press release.

The camp is conducted in conjunction with coach Stephen Brown, physical education teacher and basketball coach at San Salvador High School, and Pastor Greene. 

Brown has recently turned San Salvador into a hotbed of talent as the Caciques have become perennial contenders in national tournaments, particularly the Father Marcian Peters Classic where his intermediate boys captured back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.

Rutherford said he recognised San Salvador for its untapped talent and has already began looking at talent on the island to also make recommendations for several of the student athletes to secure athletic scholarships.

For basketball, the camp will consist of learning ball-handling drills, defensive workouts and shooting drills and, for football, speed and strength drills.

On behalf of the foundation, Rutherford thanked “all of those who have supported us while here” in the Bahamas - Baha Mar, Atlantis, The Sands Resident Resort (San Salvador), and Bahamasair and hoped to have continued support in months and years to come.

“It is pertinent as a country that we are able to collect a database of all our young talent very early in the process of their youth in order to develop them mentally, physically and spiritually in order for them to be productive citizens in the future. So, the foundation will continue its work in travelling throughout the family islands in months and years to come in order to enlighten parents of the opportunities that exist for their children to get a university education using their athletic abilities,” Rutherford said.

“It is important for us, especially as Bahamians, to appreciate the work that has been done by the student athletes in the Frank Rutherford Elite Bahamian Education Programme. It needs to be understood that there are only 400 Division I basketball programmes in America and every year there are three scholarships available in these programmes. Hence, there are only 1,200 Division I scholarships to be given each year. There are over two million high school students competing for these 1,200 scholarships, that means that less than 0.5 per cent of those competing will get those scholarships.”

The programme has a high success rate for all of the Bahamian students that have entered its ranks thus far.

Noted alumni of the programme include Devard and Devaughn Darling, Ian Symonette, Dwight Miller, Enrico Forbes, Waltia Rolle, Mikhail McLean, Probese Leo, Alex Cooper and others.

“These students sign a Division I scholarship every year. We just want more kids to be afforded that opportunity and we remain committed and relentless in our efforts in helping Bahamian students achieve a college education through sports,” Rutherford said. “I hope God will continue to bestow blessings on the foundation where it can continue to support the youth of the Bahamas.”