Amy Grant keeps overcoming the challenges – claims 5 golds again at Schools C/ships

Nov 27, 2019 Sports

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Amy Grant, the sixth former from School of the Nations has done it again in the 59th edition of the GTU/MOE 2019 Nationals Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track & Field Championships. Grant, who represented District 11, entered the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly swimming events in the Girls Open Category on Monday 17th and amassed three gold medals to achieve a total of 30 points thereby copping the Under 20 Champion girl trophy for gaining the most points in the age group, a title shared with Monique Watson.
Grant also won Gold in the Girls Open 4×50 freestyle relay along with her team mates Maiya Ifill-Francois, Giselle Crane and Amber De Goaes.
Next day Grant moved to the Lenora stadium where she continued her prowess as she watched her final throw in the Girls Open javelin flying to gold for the second year in a row, making it 5 gold for the championships.
Every athlete has a story. Some came from nothing but poverty, while some faced enormous adversities while on their rocky ride to the top of their sports discipline. Grant’s enormous success and her journey to the top is seen on the outside. What is not seen is that she came from the bottom with only self discipline, hard work, sacrifice and faith so she has earned every single thing that she has received. Those gold medals are all hers.
Born from a mother who couldn’t sit and watch her daughter struggling and decided to sacrifice her dreams and become her daughter’s coach so that her daughter achieves her dreams and a father who is of the same caliber, Amy was raised with discipline and her journey in swimming began because she was born with health complication which threatened her life and the constant battle to survive led to her learning swimming as a last resort to strengthen her health together with nutrition.
Songbird Amy Grant, whose fame came from her seasonal song, Christmas Must Be Something More and then moved to sports, was quick to highlight that fame and fortune does not immune individuals from mental and physical illness or sadness. According to the songbird, the truth is, sportspeople are actually one of the most likely groups in society to fall into depression and athletes suffer from the condition at some stage in their life. Grant has been out of swimming for a year due to an injury and not being able to have pool time. Her coach had gained pool time from the representatives of the National Sports Commission October 2019 after trying to gain pool time since 2015 to form a club.
However, Mr. Christopher Jones, the Director of Sports, gave instructions in May to Mr. Seelall, the administrator of the Aquatic Centre to stop the coach using the pool until he gets back from his vacation. There was never a meeting and all attempts to get the matter sorted proved futile. The Lifeguard club allowed her to use their time to train and the club was also told to stop using the pool. Grant thinks it was quite a coincidence that the one club that tried to help her have pool time was the only other club that was also stopped. A few weeks ago the Lifeguard club got back pool time and resumed training sessions. She hopes that Minister Norton will look into the matter in the interest of the betterment of sports.
Grant said her coach had a few young boys in the club from Plaisance village and a few girls from Sophia who wanted to swim but couldn’t afford to pay for training and they are back to being hopeless in that regard. She said the club was formed to take the underprivileged as well as cast outs and give them a chance at success, a chance to believe in themselves and to achieve the highest level of their ability and be productive in society. Young Grant wonders too, when the indifference will stop and adults will focus on a more progressive lifestyle. Youths have enough to battle with a system which focuses on academics and not much space for sports, so those naysayers who try to cast gloom should give positive support to the overburdened athletes. Statements from adult club members with nothing positive to say were on social media because reporters decided to use her name in their reports on the championships.
Amy has always been so busy managing academics and sports that she has never had the time for a vacation so she went on her first vacation in August, 2019 in Atlanta and enjoyed it so much that she didn’t realize the pounds were adding up. When she came back in mid September she had to get rid of 30 plus pounds with just a few weeks to inter schools sports to qualify for the 2019 national championships. She was also studying and sitting the 2019 AS level GCE exams which she completed only last week. A very unfit Amy dug deep into her reserves and started preparation for the championships. She only had 9 hours of swim training this year so she is proud of her achievements and feels she has done exceptionally well to have put in such performance despite the short time she has had to prepare.
According to Grant, the best memories she will take with her for this championship are those of times spent with rival athletes from Linden. “They were my arch rivals and I was supposed to dislike them but hatred does not take anyone to the happy summit,” said Amy Grant. “God is love and love gives the ultimate satisfaction. My arch rivals, the Lindeners, who competed against me demonstrated what true sportsmanship is all about.”
“Whether you’re a cyclist, a swimmer, track star, or a tennis icon – your gold is all yours – for all of you who climbed from the bottom and rose to the top relentlessly with hard work, determination, and persistence – defying all adversity and just doing it on faith. Who made it out of their extreme poverty and difficult situations, and worked hard to put themselves in a better place. I congratulate you- for the countless hours of exhausting training schedules, injuries, missed milestones and heartbreaking failures where you gave your all for a greater purpose, and most of all, for never giving up despite all that you have been through. You faced enormous challenges and refused to be beaten. It’s not about how you fall, it’s about how you get back up that counts,” was Grant’s message. They say that God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers. Through Grant’s countless efforts and all the passion and heart that she puts into sport, she proves this true.

 

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