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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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Four athletes headed to Lindenwood By DAHALIA SMITH ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ dahalia@nasguard.com: Four more Bahamian athletes have earned athletic track and field scholarships to attend Lindenwood University based in St. Charles, Missouri, as afforded by the Parents Association of Track and Field Athletes (PATFA). Those athletes expected to begin their freshmen year at Lindenwood this Fall semester include Leticha Stephens, Devonique Dean and Kemuel Stubbs, coached by Fritz Grant, and Laquardo Newbold coached by Michael Armbrister. Coincidentally, Lindenwood University is also the former school of Bahamian World Champion in the men's high, Donald Thomas. In an effort to get a better understanding of the scholarship recipients' regular training regimen, Lindenwood Track and Field Head Coach Paul Wright along with PAFTA founder Harrison Petty, Proprietor of the Petty Group of Companies, met with their respective coaches. "When you are recruiting it is always good to meet with the athletes' coaches and parents," said Wright. "Both sides want to ensure that their children are going to be treated well. Also, as a coach I want to ensure that the coaching they get at Lindenwood is not too far off the coaching they have been getting here. I don't want to completely change their routine. Completely changing their training routine can cause an athlete to get hurt," he explained. Coach Wright already expressed interest in providing two more track and field scholarships for the 2010 fall semester. Grant said local coaches like himself properly prepare their athletes for a smooth transition into a U.S. college or university track and field program. "Most Bahamian track and field coaches are up to date with the new international training techniques, consistent with that of international or U.S. based programs, so once our athletes adapt to the climate, display discipline and have passion they should be able to adjust to Coach Wright's style of training easily. Also, the fact that Coach Wright is willing to come down here and scout athletes speaks volumes about the caliber of athletes that are being produced," explained Grant. This will be the second group of Bahamian athletes to attend Lindenwood on an athletic track and field scholarship this year. PAFTA sent five athletes off, namely Ashlee Dorsett, Dwayne Ferguson, Scotty Ward, Elrich Walker and Jerome Mitchell. Wright noted that those athletes got off on the right track and have made tremendous progress during their first semester. "I was so impressed with the Bahamian athletes this spring that I wanted to come out and see what we can do for some other Bahamian athletes in the future," admitted Wright. Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) President Curt Hollingsworth commended PAFTA for locating the scholarships and highlighted the importance of student athletes overall preparedness. "It is always something positive when we can have universities and colleges such as Lindenwood offering our children opportunities to further their education. We have also been encouraging student athletes to qualify themselves by getting their BGCSEs, SATs and attaining high GPAs. At the end of the day when it is time for an association such as PAFTA to locate a scholarship, they would be prepared," explained Hollingsworth. The parents association is 10-years-old, and over the course of those 10 years, it located up to 250 athletic college scholarships. This entity is also affiliated with Dwayne Jennings organization based in Grand Bahama. Petty expressed satisfaction at the athletes' track and field and academic performances during the Spring semester. Wednesday, June 24, 2009