Life Sport has spent TT$325,000 for 25 of its participants to enrol in the Christian Victory Academy in New York for one year, to pursue a programme designed to turn their lives around. The recipients whose ages range from 16 to 25, according to Life Sport programme director Cornelius Price, would benefit from character building, sporting disciplines, spiritual values and academic work in the programme they began a few weeks ago.
Price said the scholarship package for the 25 young men was tagged at $650,000. He said the Ministry of Sport got approval to pay $325,000, while the academy funded the other 50 per cent. Meals, travelling and accommodation are provided to the recipients by the academy. A local religious leader who has ties with the academy and Belmont’s Life Sport programme handpicked the recipients.
The progress of each recipient, Price said, would determine the programme they were offered. Once they have graduated, Price said, the young men could move on to a foreign university or return home to further their studies if they so wish. “There are a lot of opportunities they can tap into. It’s all about transforming lives...making them positive and productive individuals.” He said many of the Life Sport participants are now living positive lives and hold down respectable jobs in the protective services.
Price said while some of the boys who were accepted into the Christian academy had O’ Level maths and english, others were not so fortunate. On Friday, Sport Minister Anil Roberts spoke about the scholarships in his contribution to the Life Sport motion in the House of Representatives. He said the award of scholarships was just one of the programme’s success stories. Roberts said many of the scholarship recipients did not have ID cards, passports, driver’s permits and birth certificates, which were provided.
“Some come from single parent homes, others have challenges, while a few were taken off the streets. Some of them did not even have birth certificates to get into the academy which we had to assist in getting for them. Most of these boys are willing to learn and when they find opportunities they grasp it.” There are 2,097 participants in the Life Sport programme, Roberts revealed.
Of this figure, he said, 25 are enrolled in T&T’s drilling academy. “From guns to oil,” Roberts added. He said 140 had gained jobs in the public and private sectors, while 20 have opened their own businesses.