On Thursday June 16th, Mauriel Carty, along with his family and coach, met with the Freeman family, Edwards family of Sunset Homes and ministers of government, at Ocean Echo for introductions and announcement of financial aid towards his sporting and academic career. Mauriel will be headed to Kingborough College in New York in September.
Janine and Ian ‘Sugar George’ Edwards of Sunset Homes and Neil Freeman, Chairman and CEO of Aries Capital, along with his wife Wendy Freeman, owner of Villa Alegria here on Anguilla, collaborated towards of the initiative to support Mauriel. In bidding him great success, Mr. Freeman said: “We would like to wish Mauriel great success in both his academic career and academic career. We hope that he improves in his athletics and will open the door to many great experiences”. He also congratulated the government and encouraged Mauriel’s coaches and parents to continue to support and motivate him.
Also offering kind words of encouragement was Mr. Edwards (Sugar George), who said: “It takes a village to raise a child. I would like to congratulate you, Mauriel, and your coaches Mr. Winston [Duncan], Mr. Rawlins [Richarson] and parents. As corporate citizens, we’ll continue to do our best in supporting the youths and kids of Anguilla in whatever way we can”.
Parliamentary Secretary with responsibility for sports, Hon. Cardigan Connor, highlighted the cadre and quality of great athletes produced, by Anguilla, with very limited resources. He said: “One of the big challenges for all our athletes is financial support. They might have the ability but the opportunities generally will come from financial support”. He expressed profound gratitude to the families and all stakeholders involved in assisting Mauriel in his sporting and academic career. Mr. Connor further stated: “Once we can get as many scholarships as we can, whether its sports or academics, it will go a long way. The idea is to get people to buy into the idea of supporting more and more scholarships for our island’s youth”.
Mr. Connor, who was elected as the representative of District 7 in the 2015 general elections, also approached some of his friends to further the initiative. He successfully convinced Robert Holdsworth and Pamela Webster who reside in Monaco, to support Mauriel Carty, a student athlete from West End. A statement from them said: “We have been visiting Anguilla for over 30 years and have developed a close association with Anguilla and its people. When Mr. Cardigan Connor spoke to us and mentioned Mauriel Carty’s natural ability, and his commitment to the sport of athletics, we were happy to provide funds to help him with his outstanding talent and for his academic future. Robert and I feel that talent should be nurtured wherever it is found, and we very much look forward to watching his future accomplishments and wish him well in the future.”
Mauriel is well known athlete who has participated in track and field from a very tender age. He was a star athlete on Yellow House of the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School. He even went on to represent Anguilla in numerous regional athletic meets such as the Leeward Islands Junior Championships, Caribbean Union of Teachers games (C.U.T), and the Carifta games. He also competed in the IAAF World Championships Beijing in 2015, and prior to Beijing he got the opportunity to take part in the Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow training camp in the UK, from July 15th to August 15th, 2016.
Minister of Social Development, Mr. Evans McNeil Rogers, reiterated the support of his ministry: “On behalf of the Ministry of Sports and Education, I take this opportunity to thank the Freemans and Edwards for their generosity in sponsoring Mauriel in his effort to improve academically as well as his sporting ability”. He also thanked Mauriel’s parents for raising “a talented and well rounded individual”. He further proclaimed: “I must also commend my colleague, Mr. Cardigan Connor, for the work that he has been doing in laying the foundation for not only with respect to sports but also marrying it with education. Cardigan is the driving force behind this initiative and a number of similar ones, and I want to commend him and all those involved”.
In a previous interview with this newspaper, Mauriel said that from a tender age his father would wake him up very early to train, and ever since then he grew a love for athletics. He looks forward to what the future holds for him and hopes to one day either become a world class athlete or return to Anguilla and coach upcoming athletes.
