PHILIPSBURG:--- Rolando Brison; Former President of Parliament and the #5 Candidate on the United People’s Party Slate, has announced that he is endorsing a High School Athletics Association, which will give students in secondary schools easier access to international Academic Scholarships through sports, and a platform to enter professional sport.
“The idea behind this proposal is to ensure that students have a very practical and effective way to involve themselves in sports, and the association will also have direct ties to international collegiate programs such as the NCAA, HBCU, and other prestigious college recruiting programs in the varied sports,” Brison said.
Brison applauded the local sporting organizations, which have been singlehandedly trying to create opportunities for secondary school athletes so they can access Collegiate sporting scholarships to further their tertiary education.
“I want to applaud our local sporting organizations who have taken the initiative and first steps to create these platforms for our students and create opportunities for many of them who have gone on to represent the island on an international stage. However, having a government-funded and Parliamentary Athletics program integrated into our high curriculum will really promote sports from the most crucial period of a student’s life, which will give them the opportunity to access academic scholarships and the possibility to enter professional sports, will become a reality for St. Maarten in a very structured and accessible way.”
Brison, who has been laying the foundation for this project, explained that this program will ensure that students are properly prepared and equipped to qualify for academic scholarships and programs with rigorous requirements.
“We have several students who are gifted and highly skilled in various sports, but lack the guidance and support needed to prepare them to meet the required international standards, by implementing this program, safeguards will be put in place to provide a holistic approach to preparing our students.”
He further stated several benefits to supporting this initiative, like sports tourism, which will attract international athletes, scouting coaches, and professional training teams to our shores. “This will bring revenue to our tourism sector, such as our hotels, taxis, restaurants, and stores, just to name a few,” Brison said. “So, in essence, the High School Sports Athletic Association will be pumping back money into our economy while providing opportunities for our youth and positively highlighting St. Maarten to the world.”
Another major benefit of this athletics program is that it will engage our youth positively. “By getting our youngsters involved in this program at this impressionable age, we will redirect their focus and energy into something positive and fulfilling,” Brison explained. “This, in turn, keeps them active and away from negative and disruptive behavior, thereby minimizing the increase in youth violence, bullying, and disruptive behavior amongst our youth.”
Brison said his hope is that once re-elected to office, he will implement this association, which will showcase and foster our local talent and open the door for our youths to explore other less popular sports like gymnastics, golf, badminton, track and field, etc.
When asked how the program will be funded, Brison explained that between the cost of living and taxes now, it would be unfair to burden parents with additional costs, so he would recommend that 1 percent be deducted from the Gasoline Excise.
According to Brison, most of his efforts as a legislator has been to establish programs and legislation geared at the working class and the elderly, like the recent proposal to offer tax free pension payments to the elderly, increase the minimum wage.
