Anguilla’s upcoming cricketer, 17-year-old Dimitri Adams, has been awarded a sports scholarship in the United Kingdom. It will enable him to attend Southampton University where he will study for a Business Administration Degree while also playing with the Hampshire Cricket Academy.
The son of Anguilla’s former West Indies Cricketer, Alex Adams, and health professional, Mrs. Maeza Demis-Adams – Dimitri began playing competitive cricket at the age of seven when he represented Anguilla in St. Kitts. Since then he has developed greatly in the sport, catching the attention of a number of Anguilla Cricket Association officials as well as the then Cricket Development Officer in the schools, Mr. Cardigan Connor, a former Hampshire, and Melbourne, Australia, Cricketer who migrated to the UK as a youngster and made a name for himself in the sport.
Mr. Connor, now Parliamentary Secretary for Sports in Anguilla, played a key role in arranging the scholarship for Dimitri who is combining his academic studies with playing competitive cricket. Mr. Connor called a meeting on Tuesday, June 21, at the Anguilla Commonwealth Association Games Office, where he announced the scholarship award to Dimitri.
He was delighted to announce that the Sports and Academic Scholarship was awarded by Mr. John Kerr in the name of his late wife, Theresa Kerr. They were both regular UK visitors to Anguilla and guests at Cap Juluca, who loved Anguilla and its people.
“The members of the Anguilla Commonwealth Games Association and team will always speak glowingly of how John and Theresa did all they could in order to give Team Anguilla whatever assistance was needed,” Mr. Connor stated. “That was when the games were held in Manchester, England, in 2002; in Melbourne, Australia, in 2006; and also in New Delhi, India, in 2010.” He regretted that, “unfortunately, Theresa Kerr could not join the Anguilla Commonwealth Games Team in Glasgow in 2014 because she lost her battle with cancer.”
Mr. Connor continued: “Earlier this year, with a heavy heart, John Kerr came back to Anguilla and Cap Juluca, a place he said Theresa loved dear. It was then that I spoke to John about Dimitri Adams, a young cricketer who I first saw at the Ronald Webster Park. At that time he was about four years old and had a cricket bat. It was bigger than him, but Dimitri was more interested in playing his own game of cricket rather than watching his dad score hundreds. Dimitri will go off to Southampton University in September and will also join the Cricket Academy at Hampshire County Cricket Club.
“John Kerr believes, and I agree with him, that Theresa will be smiling at the thought that a sporting scholarship in her name will live on for the benefit of Anguillian student athletes.”
Mr.Evans McNiel Rogers, Minister of Social Development with responsibility for Sports, congratulated Dimitri for being the first awardee of the scholarship – and was grateful to Mr. Kerr and his wife for their kindness and love for Anguilla. Similar sentiments were expressed by sporting personalities: Mr. Kenn Banks, Mr. Ralph Hodge and Mr. Rollins Richardson.
Dimitri’s mother expressed gratitude for the scholarship and the prospects it presents for Dimitri. While happy for him, she spoke about the family’s pain his absence would cause in the home, but again stressed the excellent contribution of the sports scholarship to his future development. Dimitri joined in expressing his personal thanks, and his desire to achieve success to the satisfaction of all concerned.
