The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHEN coach Geno Bullard opened the Noble Preparatory Academy two years ago, it was to provide an avenue for student-athletes to get themselves prepared for the road ahead to college.

Today, Bullard has about 21 students registered in the programme on Nassau Street that has put sports, and basketball in particular, on the back burner to a high level of education.

“We are trying to help them to get their academic standards up so that they can handle the college courses when they go away,” Bullard said. “We have to prepare them before they go. Last year, we had 100 per cent that went off to college and they all maintained the 80 per cent standard that we wanted them to so that we can recommend them for college.”

The student-athletes, led by valedictorian Daniel Bullard, are all enrolled in Niagara College in Welland, Niagara Falls, Canada. Bullard is studying civil engineering, Ray Stubbs is pursuing a degree in accounting, Terrel Tinker is doing international business and Reid Sweeting is doing construction engineering.

Currently there are six students in grade 12 at NPA, including Delroy Grandison, Deangelo Knowles, Travis Mott, Levigi Forbes.

And Bullard said the goal is to ensure that they are prepared to travel to Canada next year.

“The programme is going very well, based on the success we had last year,” Bullard said. “The students are more excited about studying, about coming to school. They understand now that just a couple of months ago, students who were sitting on the side of them are now in college, so it’s giving them the incentive to go after the same goal.

“So we’re real optimistic that we will have 100 per cent from our graduating class going off to college.”

The good thing is that after going through their daily programme from 1-6:30pm, during which they are taught mathematics, English, language arts, history, Spanish, computer biology, accounting and fitness & nutrition, Bullard said he’s still able to keep abreast of the students even as they are attending school at Niagara College so they can give guidance and advice to the parents.

“All of the students are doing very well,” he said. “Daniel Bullard received a scholarship to Niagara College and he’s a part of the basketball team. He will join Marako Lundy, who followed in the footsteps of Gonzo (Rashad Morley, who recently graduated with honours).”

Charnacaye Chambers, a first year high school coordinator, said she has been blessed to have encountered the type of students that are enrolled at NPA. “They really appreciate the effort and they have been working along with me,” Chambers said. “I make sure that they are learning what they are supposed to be learning so that when they leave from here, they will be able to excel, not just in the Bahamas, but worldwide.”

Chambers, who also deals with the disciplinary aspects at the school, said she has not had any problems with NPA being such a small environment.

“At NPA, when they are in grade 12, we look at where do they go when they leave NPA,” she said. “We make sure that when they leave NPA, they are qualified to move on to higher education and we provide a stepping stone by opening the pathway through scholarships for them.”

In his third year with coach Bullard, Livigi Forbes said he has learnt a lot. “It’s been great. I’ve changed a lot under coach Bullard,” he said. “He’s helped me to become a better person.”

As for the programme at NPA, Forbes said he has made the necessary adjustments and has focused on his studies because he ultimately wants to go to college next year.

“I know that it’s no joke because those who are off to college were right where I am,” he said. “I just have to do my hard work and believe in myself. My goal is to go to college and pursue a degree in technology and eventually play college basketball.”

Forbes, an 18-year-old 5-11 guard, said he’s even more inspired to fulfil those dreams because he will be the first person in his family to actually go off to school.

Now in his fifth year in the programme, 17-year-old 6-2 forward Delroy Grandison said he has been able to get groomed into a young man who will not be deterred from getting into college.

“The journey has just started. It’s a long way. I can’t stop now,” he said. “The programme has improved every year. It has helped me to stay off the street and try to make something positive out of my life.”

With some of the other players whom he played with already in college, Grandison said he can’t afford to be left behind.

“They are waiting on me to come up there so that we can be together again,” he said. “So me and Livigi are trying our best to make sure that we go next year. We don’t have the distractions, so my grades have improved and I think my mother is more proud of me because I’m staying out of trouble. She’s looking forward to me going off to school.”

He’s only in the ninth grade, but 14-year-old Shamar ‘the Future’ Burrows said he’s happy to have so much role models ahead of him to guide him along.

“Looking at what these guys have done ahead of me, it has inspired me as the young individual coming up under them,” said the 6-foot, 2-inch guard. “They have showed me a lot of different things that I have been doing on and off the court. They have been like big brothers for me. They have kept me in line. They have been there for me.”

With education as the priority, Burrows said he’s looking forward to being a role model for those that are following behind him.

“I want to make my family proud and I said to myself, ‘if I make it, I want to give back to help other young people that if I can do it, they can do it too’”, he said.

This summer, Burrows had the opportunity to play on the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s junior boys basketball team in El Salvador. The team came close to winning the title, but through the mentorship that he got from NPA, Burrows said he was able to provide the leadership for the other players on the team.