The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SINCE he rose to prominence as a public figure, Myron Rolle has served as an inspiration through his foundation and a myriad of programmes which embody his extensive list of accomplishments both on and off the football field.

This summer, Rolle looks to extend the reach of his programmes to the Bahamas for the very first time with the launch of Myron L Rolle Foundation’s Wellness and Leadership Academy.

The foundation will host 25 future leaders from children’s homes throughout the capital at the Adventure Learning Centre July 13-17 under the theme “Rediscover Your Ability to Dream.”

Rolle, now a first-year student at the Florida State University College of Medicine, said the launch of the programme in the Bahamas was the natural progression following its success in Florida.

He partnered with the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida National Guard in 2009 to host the first Wellness and Leadership Academy for 100 foster children ages 12-14 in Starke, Florida.

“I wanted to find a way to inject change into the world which I wanted to see. Creating this wellness and leadership academy was one way of doing that. I believe that having a fit body is married to being a strong leader. You cannot mobilise and get out and do good work without a good fit body to do so. I identified a demographic in Florida to do this, one that targets a group of foster kids. I felt that they were underserved and sort of placed in the category of ‘other’ so for the past five years we have run the wellness and leadership academy bringing awareness to those kids,” Rolle said.

“What we want to do here in the Bahamas is launch the same programme where we bring about 25 under-served children, 25 students who are young future leadears of this country and really just use the same methodology to help shape Bahamian culture.”

The academy will be sponsored by Coca-Cola with support from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture along with the Ministry of Social Services and Community Development, however, corporate Bahamas is encouraged to get involved.