Kingston, Jamaica: Vincent Mitchell heads the list of prospective scholarship athletes, coming out of the final day of scouting as the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus concludes its 3rd annual Football Scholarship festival.
A sixth form student of the Mandeville High, Mitchell was acknowledged as one the most talented athletes along with former Glenmuir High School student, Clovel Dinall at Thursday’s final all-star Manning and Dacosta Cup Match.
“This is my first time here and I thought it was an excellent three-day activity”, said Mitchell. “I am very excited because there are lots of opportunities open for me. I was approached by several universities, almost all so far but I have not made any decisions yet. My plan however is to attend a university where I can focus on academics as well as sport so that I always have a second option”.
Tom Carlin, Head Coach from the Villanova University, is one of the many other coaches who expressed interest in Mitchell. “There is extreme potential in all the students that I have seen over the past three days, he says”. “We are looking for vision and creativity from players.”
At the end of the matches, the scouts lauded the athletes for excellent performance. Many expressed their heightened interest in Jamaican athletes due to achievements from the likes of Darren Mattocks, former Bridgeport High School and Waterhouse FC player who is expected to be the number one pick in the 2012 Major League Soccer draft.
Clovel Dillan is one of the athletes who now have a better chance of accessing such opportunities with offers from institution such as Temple University.
“I just played simple like my coaches said,” says Dinall. “I was approached by several universities… which can open an opportunity for me to play Major League Soccer. However, no decisions are yet made as I still have some meetings pending with some of the coaches.”
Tertiary institution including the Ohio Dominican University, the University of Central Florida, Villanova University, Temple University from Philadelphia and West Virginia University were among several local and international entities perusing the athletes.
More than thirty students have received scholarships over the last three years under the programme. Eighteen of those students have been awarded UWI Mona scholarships including Teo Campbell, Rashane Garcia, Kemar Douglas and Andrae Bernal. Other scholarships recipients included Omar Tape to UTech, Clovell Dinal to GC Foster, Necas Collins, University of Hartford and Chris Waugh, University of Tampa.
Other prospective scholarship awardees coming out of Thursday’s game include Jovanni Simms, Gegory Kogg, Taval Whittaker, Ricardo Oldham and Andrew Allen.