Old Places, Familiar Faces

It is almost as if I have taken a month long leave of absence from my blog.  But the truth is I have really been in a phase that adds certain elements to the blog that make it what it is.  I arrived in Jamaica on October 28^th and I have decided that this is where I will be for a short time.  This is all in an effort to maneuver my way to ensure I can focus on what I need to be focusing on.  I packed up and left South Florida so I can pick up greater fortune somewhere along the way.

While I am here, my main focus here is to work with any of the athletic groups that have been so fruitful on the track.  But, easier said than done.  The colourfulness of the Jamaican way of life has so much to offer that it is a task to keep things on a regime.  This is why falling into a routine has to come soon….very soon.  Today marks a week that I have already been here, and all I have don’t to date is spend time around my mother, sister and aunt and my cup hath already runneth over.  There is no place like home and as much as I stay thankful for having the opportunity to be a part of the realm of track and field, there is absolutely nothing else that exists that can surmount to half of what family can mean.  If there was no family to enjoy athletics with, it would mean nothing.            

Another mission which I have decided to dedicate some time to is a project that can hopefully mean something life altering to at least one person.  Especially in a country like Jamaica, track & field does not only stand for track & field.  It speaks of hope to the hopeless, and puts substance and recognition to generations of a people of small communities that have been so easily forgotten time and time again.  With this being a vision that I have had for a while, seeing it being done for the wrong reasons before, and listening to a younger student-athlete I know deservingly bloviate about how she worked way to a full scholarship by herself, I was able to seriously start scheming about how I could find a way to connect the dots between the talented, bright and needy youth to the resources that are out there (In this day and age, nobody should have to work his way through the NCAA’s daunting clearinghouse on his own… Congrats Rochelle Nelson on dreaming big and being smart, you are making somebody proud).  I spent time over the last couple of months in the US consulting with various officials who are well versed on the topic of NCAA compliance to learn how to go about setting up a database that will urge institutions to take a better look at all the layers of talent of student- athletes within this region.

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