Queen's Royal College (QRC) remains a significant supplier of world class athletes to T&T, said past pupil Hayden Mora."This college boasts many athletes who have had successful sporting careers and thereafter very successful professional careers, like Wendell Mottley, 400-metres silver medallist at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, who went on to hold very senior positions at the World Bank and in the T&T government; and continues to lead a very active career in finance to this day," he said.Mora added, "The list is long. We will continue to follow the lives of Richard Thompson, Deon Lendore, Jehue Gordon and company. By the way, I am sure you are aware that your college provided more athletes at the 2012 London Olympic Games than any other institution. We now need our college to return to produce more scholarship winners than any other institution."
Mora was delivering the feature address at QRC's Achievement Day held at Queen's Hall, In St Ann's Port-of-Spain recently.While he lauded the superb achievements of past pupils on the field of play, he moved quickly to underscore the need for the student population to stay true to the pursuit of academic excellence.Whatever their career paths, Mora said, students must not become marginalised because they did not benefit from the college's revered academic structure and offerings."Many times people think that academic performance is less important if you are a good sportsman. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, good academic performance enhances your prospects of being an excellent sportsman.
It opens doors for you to enter universities with the best sporting programmes, but the thing that most young men your age do not consider is that the life of a sportsman, which is generally sport, can be cut even shorter by an unexpected injury. At that time, you must fall back on your academic qualification," he said.Mora added, "There are numerous examples for sportsmen who have had career ending injuries. The latest examples being T&T very own Akeem Adams (end of this football career at 22) and Fabrice Muamba, whose career ended at 24 years old. The intention here is not to scare you, but to encourage you to focus on your academic performance."
Honour Roll
Sportsman of the Year: Kieron Emmanuel
Footballer of the Year: Makesi Lewis
Hockey Player of the Year: Kwesi Emmanuel
Judo Player of the Year: Kendall Paradath
Rugby Player of the Year: Daniel Ryan (Upper Division), Xavier Henry (Lower Division)
Table Tennis Player of the Year: Kourdell Powell
Track and Field Athlete of the Year: Asa Guevera
Mini Polo Player of the Year: Jean-Marc Granderson
Water Polo Player of the Year: Kieron Emmanuel
Cricketer of the Year: Navin Bidaisee
Dragon Boat Sailor of the Year: Jonathan Paul
Basketball Player of the Year: Ekechi Douglas (Upper Division), Kareem London (Lower Division)
Swimmer of the Year: Matthew Sheppard