From left to right: Cheyanna Burnett-Griffith, Tre Ifill, Marissa King, Felicia Jarvis and Jelani Chandler will be heading off to the Southwest Virginia Community College on football scholarships next year.
Mavericks to send off five
After several months of hard work, the Mavericks Sports Club is finally seeing results from their Global Exposure Initiative as a number of their charges have secured overseas scholarships to play football.
On Saturday at their Police Sports Club home, five of their young players signed off on their Letters of Intent as they set their sights on heading to Southwest Virginia Community College for January 2021.
With a sixth player – Tia Briggs-Thompson – leaving recently to take up tenure at the North Iowa Area Community College, Saturday’s event saw Jelani Chandler, Felicia Jarvis, Cheyanna Burnett-Griffith, Marissa King and Tre Ifill signing as they prepare themselves for the next step of their footballing career.
Speaking during the ceremony, Personal Development Officer Camille Spooner shed light on the initiative which gave life to the opportunities awarded to the young players. Noting that an accord was struck up with the Walter Rodney Foundation after a team tour to Atlanta, Georgia last year, Spooner explained that the Global Exposure Initiative was struck up to open doors and create opportunities just like these.
“It is our dream through this initiative to see our players, one; participate in exchange programmes with their North American peers at all age levels while attending camps during vacation periods and short stints in the USA on attachments with soccer clubs and schools. Two; to see them gain scholarships towards entry to universities and colleges in North America because of their academic, creative and or athletic excellence. Three; to participate in community or charitable work,” she said.
With this current crop following in the footsteps of Najee Holder, Tiffany White and Jeneva Millar, who have all benefited from playing overseas on scholarships, Treasurer and Director of the club Neil Matthews dropped some poignant advice on the youngsters as he urged them to use the opportunity wisely. “These things don’t drop out of the sky. A lot of hard work was put in by a lot of people to get this for you. Don’t waste it! At the end of the day, this is about you. This is to make sure that you develop as an individual, that you chart a course for yourself and this is just a starting block for you. Use it wisely,” Matthews said. (MP)