Jamaicans and USA Scholarships: Francis Encourages It

[EPelle]

Front-page piece has Stephen Francis making a smart suggestion to Jamaican athletes who qualify for scholarship opportunities: TAKE THEM.

Bolt wouldn't have fit the mould, as he was already superb in high school and needed to train locally as well as be compensated for his gifts.

Nevertheless, give some scenarios where Jamaicans would head to the USA. Who are they? Which universities? How would it change the complexion of their training.

And, more importantly, would they improve having trained in an NCAA system? Of course they would.

[Speedfirst]

Huh, this ain't nothing new.

[EPelle]

Going against his tried and tested philosophy of allowing Jamaican athletes to train locally instead of making the trek to American colleges, Stephen Francis says athletes who earn overseas scholarships should take them.

This doesn't mean that Jamaicans haven't pursued educational opportunities in the USA in the past, but there now seems to be a green-light provided.

[Marlow]

Bolt was too good to give away. They made the right choice with him. NOthing against the USA, but it's not for everyone and it does tend to over-use athletes. I see Bolt doing the 200, 400, 4x1 and 4x4 in college meets on a regular basis. The good news is that it makes you strong and battle-tested; the bad news is that it can wear you down.

[tandfman]

This doesn't mean that Jamaicans haven't pursued educational opportunities in the USA in the past, but there now seems to be a green-light provided.

There's never really been a red light, or even an amber light. Many of the Jamaican greats of the past (McKenley, Quarrie, Ottey, and lots of others) trained at US schools. There have been occasional comments from some Jamaican officials exhorting their athletes to stay there, but I don't think there have ever been any obstacles to leaving. It seems to me that for every coach or official who has expressed a preference for Jamaicans to train at home, there have been lots of others who have worked with US coaches to place their athletes in schools that are right for them. Coach Francis is simply endorsing what many of his countrymen have encouraged.

Jamaicans are not unique in this respect. Many other athletes from English speaking Caribbean countries have come to the US on athletic scholarships as well.

[Infama]

Franno has no choice. He is flooded with applicants and the Cup runneth over.
Its even worse now since Beijing. Development meets for kids now have 2,500 athletes each weekend in the pre-Champs season.

Jamaica has enuff athletes to share and they need many outlets.

[toyracer]

Francis was looking at it from a post-racing-career point of view, for which an education is key. He was giving good sound advice, and I doubt that it has anything to do with the amount of applications he is getting at MVP. He was simply telling kids what every good parent does: a proper education is the only sound foundation for life.

[tandfman]

Unless your name is LeBron or Usain.

[TrackDaddy]

For years we've trained and educated foreign athletes at our universities and then watched them compete against us in the Olympics (VCB, Melaine Walker, et al).

What this also does is limit scholarship opportunites for American youth at state universities where their family's tax dollars go. So for every foriegn scholarship athlete, one less American youth will get the opportunity to compete on a scholarship that quite often their parents have been taxed for.

I've never quite understood what benefit the US gets from it except for schools/coaches like LSU being more talented because of the foreigners they bring in.

I'm NOT saying I'm against it, I've just never understood it or the benefits of it for Americans. I mean beyond the foreign exchange student cultural shared experience thing and the opportunity to win more track meets.

[Speedfirst]

For years we've trained and educated foreign athletes at our universities and then watched them compete against us in the Olympics (VCB, Melaine Walker, et al).

What this also does is limit scholarship opportunites for American youth at state universities where their family's tax dollars go. So for every foriegn scholarship athlete, one less American youth will get the opportunity to compete on a scholarship that quite often their parents have been taxed for.

I've never quite understood what benefit the US gets from it except for schools/coaches like LSU being more talented because of the foreigners they bring in.

I'm NOT saying I'm against it, I've just never understood it or the benefits of it for Americans. I mean beyond the foreign exchange student cultural shared experience thing and the opportunity to win more track meets.

Co-sign and very good points.

[knite]

Not intended for anyone specifically, but please believe that foreign students aren't only here for and via athletics. There are plenty of forgeign students here for academics SOLELY. These students are given major money at many of the top universities, regardless of their athletic abilities. I have no insight, but I am willing to guess the number of foreign students for academics outnumber those who do receive monies for athletic ability.

[tandfman]

I think they far outnumber the athletes, especially when you consider graduate students.

[knite]

I think they far outnumber the athletes, especially when you consider graduate students.

Exactly, that was my point. Its really a no contest.

[usafa]

I think what will happen is that the "can't miss, next sure thing" athlete will stay in JA, go to Utech or GC Foster, take whatever money Nike, Puma, Adidas or Lucosaide throws at them and hopefully become solid professionals. The "marginal" athletes should jump at US scholarship where they will no doubt/hopefully benefit from whatever Uncle Sams offers (training facilities; life after track i.e. a degree)...in the end, this will only make Jamaica a stronger track power.

[knite]

I think what will happen is that the "can't miss, next sure thing" athlete will stay in JA, go to Utech or GC Foster, take whatever money Nike, Puma, Adidas or Lucosaide throws at them and hopefully become solid professionals. The "marginal" athletes should jump at US scholarship where they will no doubt/hopefully benefit from whatever Uncle Sams offers (training facilities; life after track i.e. a degree)...in the end, this will only make Jamaica a stronger track power.

Well quite honestly, the US has contributed to make Jamaica a world power waaaaaay before there was the thought of Bolt in Beijing!

Just being honest.