Student-Athlete Summit back to deliver college roadmap
Published:Sunday | August 18, 2024 | 12:14 AMOrane Buchanan - Staff Reporter
FORMER CALABAR High School track standout Daniel England is gearing up for the fifth staging of his Student-Athlete Summit set for October 16 and 18 in Kingston and Montego Bay, respectively.
The summit, which began in 2019, is geared towards assisting local talents to properly transition from high school to college. According to England, he’s all all about the business of helping to make a positive impact on Jamaica’s grassroots talents.
“I must say that I’m looking forward to the fact that we’ve reached the fifth staging of the summit and each year we’ve added new speakers that bring new information for the student-athletes. We just want to continue to make a positive impact on the lives of the young student-athletes who are pursuing their lifelong dreams,” he explained.
England, whose high school career ranks among the best to ever compete at the ISSA Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships, helped his Calabar team to ‘champs’ titles in 1988, 1989 and 1990. Affectionately labelled as the ‘little warrior’, England competed over the 200m and 400m and ended his high school career losing only one race over his four years competing at the championships.
According to England, the right mindset, inclusive of prioritising one’s time, is of paramount importance.
“Once you get to college nobody tells you what to do, when to go to bed, when to go to classes as you’re now on your own. Some young athletes aren’t prepared for that lifestyle on campus and sometimes one will get lost in the shadows. Therefore, we’re trying to, at least, give them a roadmap in regard to what’s important because you’ll believe you have a lot of time when you don’t as a student-athlete,” he said.
England explained that over the three days student-athletes will engage in numerous sessions that include leadership, financial planning, psychology, recruiting and general planning for those in pursuit of scholarship opportunities in the United States.
“One of the main things we do is that the college coaches that will be attending from overseas have a question-and-answer session. We open the floor to all the student-athletes who have questions about the college roadmap. If you don’t ask, then you don’t know so we try not to just force the information on them but also demand feedback and communication in order for them to understand what this is all about,” he added.
As for the number of attendees expected, England believes 200 should be an ideal target audience.
“We usually keep it around 200 student-athletes because it’s not about the magnitude but rather the message. I’m sure we could do more but we keep it around that mark so that the message doesn’t get lost.”
This year’s speakers will have experts in key areas and will feature Dr Scott Hamilton, noted Sports Psychologist, Medicinal Chemist, Dr Peter Ruddock, Financial Management Expert, Peter Mohan (Scotiabank) & Division One Coach (University of Nebraska), Vincent Johnson.
The project will also have the support of public officials to include Olympian and State Minister in National Security Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn; Foreign Affairs State Minister Alando Terrelonge, Education Minister Fayval Williams and Sport Minister Olivia Grange.