The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Sports World ‘Go Positive’ School Tour, featuring former National Football League player Michael Cobb, is now in high gear.

On Monday, Cobb addressed the students of the Anatol Rodgers, RM Bailey and CI Gibson Secondary Schools where his message of “making the right choices” was well received.

Accompanied by Carlos Reid and entertainer Elnathan Corey Rolle, better known as DJ Counsellor, Cobb left a different message in each location.

To the entire school population at Anatol Rodgers, the focus was on the importance of having a good attitude. The focus to a classroom packed with students at RM Bailey was on being the best example that one could be. And in the auditorium at CI Gibson, Cobb used a power demonstration using two words - excuse and reason - to get his point across.

The local organising team, which also included Pastor Geoffery Wood and Jacqualine Bain, also payed a courtesy call on Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson.

“We want to welcome you to the Bahamas. We have a great tradition of sports and youth development,” Johnson said. “So we want to continue to make it a plank for our national youth development because all around the world, young people are in a crisis.

“But we feel that by having people like you come in and address our young people, we can help to curb the problem that we are experiencing.

“So we are happy to see that Sports World is getting involved by coming to the Bahamas and imparting their knowledge to our young people.”

Today, the school blitz is set to continue at 9am at Government High School. From there, it’s on to the TA Thompson Junior High School at 11am and they will be at St John’s College around 2pm.

Also on Wednesday night, Apostle Carlos Reid will host a special session at The Hope Center, starting at 7pm.

The tour is scheduled to wrap up 9am Thursday at Doris Johnson and at 11am at HO Nash before Cobb leaveks to return to the United States.

This is the second year that Sports World is in the Bahamas.

Sports World Ministry, led by Dr Ira Lee Eshlemas, who founded the organisation 30 years ago and is now headed by Devon McDonald, is a seed-planting ministry which uses former professional athletes to share personal life experiences with students while challenging them with hope.

Last year, McDonald was in town with three other members as they visited a number of schools in New Providence and Grand Bahama. They also hosted a softball camp for women in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex and two football camps in New Providence and Grand Bahama.

Cobb, a graduate of Michigan State University who was drafted in the NFL in the first round in 1977 by the Cincinnati Bengals, but went on to play for the Chicago Bulls from 1977-81, was the lone representative for Sports World from the United States this year.