US-based Guyanese Lloyd Lashley (left) poses with students who were outfitted with book bags and school equipment and a teacher (right) yesterday.
Enterprise Primary School was the beneficiary of a goodwill gesture from US-based Guyanese Lloyd Lashley, who presented the school with a quantity of book bags containing school equipment and football yesterday, during a simple ceremony that was conducted, at the institution in Durban Backlands.
Lashley, who migrated to the USA at the tender age of nine years, has been living abroad for the past thirty-two years. Speaking with the media, Lashley said that his original plan was to host an Under-13 tournament, but due to the hurdles he would have had to cross decided not to venture into that realm, but instead donate the gifts to the school.
“My first choice was to host an U-13 tournament but after that fell through I decided to present Enterprise with the little gifts that I brought,” he told the media.
Quizzed on the how the idea evolved, Lashley said that very often players from Guyana would come to the USA to participate in the Caribbean Cup Competition and scouts from all over the country would be there, but sadly a lot of the very good players are unable to be drafted due to their academic deficiency.
He said his aim is to strike a balance between an academic pursuit and on-field proficiency which according to him goes hand in hand when one is seeking a scholarship to attend colleges in the USA.
“Very often a lot of our very good players are overlooked due to due to their lack of academic qualifications and this is why I’m here to help the students from an early age strike a balance between education and their sporting pursuits.”
He praised to engage other stakeholders to advance the idea of ensuring that education is not neglected while a student is excelling on-field.