Opportunity declined

Don Burgess
The Gazette reports today that cricketer Marcus Johnson is headed back to Bermuda after spending just four days at the fabled University of Trinidad's Academy of Sport and Leisure High Performance Unit. Earlier this year six girls had been given $20,000 soccer scholarships in the U.S. and by the first weekend, five of them had returned home. And it's happened before. It helps lead to the perception that Bermudian youth are soft. We want our young people to succeed, but when we see them not lasting a weekend, it just leaves us shaking our heads. Part of becoming a better sportsman is the mental game - mental toughness. These teenagers didn't have it. Maybe the sporting groups didn't prepare them well enough as to the cultural changes; maybe the parents should have told them to stick it out for a month first before being so quick to allow them to come home. Bermuda coach hailed Johnson as a trailblazer and how he did would affect the future relationship. From this standpoint, it couldn't have gone any worse.

Comments

[Tryangle]

When you're 13, 14, 15, you're probably not prepared for life in another country away from family and loved ones.

Because this appears to be a general trend among Bermuda's young athletes, one would think that responsibility for preparing them would fall onto those in the sporting bodies who need to spend more time and effort on analyzing and preparing these young folks for what could lie ahead.

[Don Burgess]

Marcus is 17 and most of the girls on scholarship were 16 and 17.

[Pepper4Ever]

Kids today have it to easy. They're soft. I blame the parents for not making them stick it out.

[Tryangle]

In that case, I don't know. People go to college at that age and have to deal with a foriegn environment, so not sure why people at 17 can't try to deal with the situation for at least a month. I'm leaning towards Pepper's point of view now.

[Tryangle]

Apologies for the quick add-on, but both Shaun Goater and David Bascome recently discussed young people taking that path to a professional sporting career; unfortunately we don't have that equivalent in cricket, but if anyone could provide sound advice on preparation from their experience it would definitely be Shaun.

[4daluvofball]

Maybe what should happen is that the sporting bodies should allow time for things such as moving away on scholarships sink in. Don't expect to give these youths scholarships oneday and ship them out the next. Before anybody leaves to stay abroad for a long period of time, they need time to prepare themselves mentally, physically and emotionally. I do also agree that parents should focus more on preparing their kids for these types of situations. My parents did...they gave me the tools and skills needed in order to survive on my own so that I won't be coming back just after a weekend. I left my house at the age of 17 focused and prepared to be out in the real world BY MYSELF....and I haven't looked back since!!!! Take heed people!!!