Bermuda’s young stars were given a helping hand on their path to potential greatness by the Government at the National Junior Scholarship awards last night.

With former recipients of awards such as Roy-Allen Burch, Tyler Butterfield, Tyler Smith and Cecilia Wollman going on to represent Bermuda at the Olympics and a host of other grant-getters going on to professional careers in other sports, this event often portends elite-level achievement.

And the 2025 class looks no different with individual athletes in ten sports receiving grants and five national sports governing bodies awarded funds to import coaches with the aim to train as many young people on island as possible.

Among those shaking hands with sports minister Owen Darrell at Bermuda College was 16-year-old Tatiana Sousa, who won a silver medal in the javelin at the Carifta Games this year. She was awarded $2,548 to attend a training camp in Paraguay and is excited to be making the trip.

“This should be a great opportunity for development after my Carifta medal and definitely help me towards my future endeavours,” said Sousa, who is 16 and attends Warwick Academy.

“I do feel that more people should get involved in field events as it is underrated and offers a good opportunity for scholarships at universities and colleges, which is potentially something I’m aiming at.”

While higher education may be on the mind of Sousa, 17-year-old Jazuri Easton-Thompson has hopes of becoming a professional motocross rider. He was awarded $2,370 and will be using it to compete in one of North America’s biggest events.

“I’m going to do a big race in Canada called the Walton Championships and I’ll also be doing a big training camp in South Carolina. It’s hot there and the track acts real tough so it’s really good training.

“My dad got me started in the sport at the age of 4 or 5 and I loved it from Day 1. I’d like to think in the next two or three years I’ll be well on the way to becoming a pro. I’m on a really good path.”

Muryah Swan is ready to dish out some pain in Baltimore after she was awarded $2,088 to train at a martial arts camp in Baltimore.

A member of the Bermuda Sanshou Association, she has a busy time ahead as she will be competing in front of local fans on fight night in Dockyard on June 28 before attending her training camp in July.

“They found a girl from Canada for me to fight,” said Swan, who is 16 and attends The Berkeley Institute. “I’ve fought on fight night twice and won both times so I’ll hopefully win this one.

“I wasn’t too interested in martial arts at first but the more classes I took, the more I wanted to compete. I won my first tournament in Canada and started to get really excited about the sport. I started training harder and harder and it turns out I love the art of it and I love punching people.”

Nyindae Smith was handed $1,718 to attend a training camp in Jacksonville, Florida. Already a Bermuda rugby international, he was emotional when told he was receiving a grant.

“I was shocked when my coach told me he’d nominated me,” Smith said. ”I was really emotional at first and then my heart was pounding.

“I found my love for rugby in middle school and was mainly a football player then but my ex-coach from middle school, Coach Patrick, God bless him, told me to come and try out for rugby and I’ve never looked back.”

It has been a whirlwind few weeks for Ralph Scott, who just a week after being named MVP on the Basketball Without Borders tour to El Salvador, walked away with $3,699 to attend an IMG Summer Camp in Florida.

“The money will go to some camps and towards travel for some big tournaments in the States,” Scott said.

“I’m shooting for the NBA and that’s what I’m working towards. I’m just trying to work as hard as I can to get there. But right now I’m just focusing on getting better, making sure I’m good as a person before going to college.”

Budding volleyball player Lorenzo Pesci, who is 16 and attends Saltus, took home $3,141 to attend an IMG Academy training camp in Bradenton, Florida, and he could hardly contain his excitement about the chance to learn from the best.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Pesci said. “Volleyball is such a big thing for me and being able to go away and train with some really great players should really help my game.

“I play as a middle and this is a great opportunity for me to get better at recovery, hitting and improving my blocking. I really want to continue playing volleyball for as long as possible and hopefully get a scholarship.”

Ryan Outerbridge, who has finished runner-up in the Bermuda Half-Marathon Derby for the past two years and won two gold medals at the Northeast-10 Indoor Championships this year, was awarded The Dame Flora Duffy Award of $10,000.

Darrell, whose ministerial portfolios include culture, tourism, transport and sport, insists that nights such as these and the chance to help young sportsmen is one of the high points of his work.

“More interesting than the cheques and the photos is listening to the stories these athletes have and what this money will do for them,” Darrell said.

“It’s very important these stories are told as a lot of times we only report and see the end results, but I was in Trinidad at the Carifta Games when Tatiana Sousa won her medal and heard her story.

“This is a feelgood night but it’s also necessary to help these young people, their families, the NSGBs and the coaches. This is what it’s all about.”

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