KELLY...I like how volunteering brings people together and keeps us humble.
She is not only a bright prospect in her field, but Barbadian gymnast Olivia “Storm” Kelly, is also honing her skills as a budding philanthropist, as she reignited efforts to assist, and, by extension, ease the financial burdens of students and teachers in need, for the new school year.
Through a Back-to-School drive, Kelly uses her Social Media platforms to seek donations of stationery items and other office supplies for teachers in particular, who often have to dig deep into their pockets to acquire said items.
The American-born Kelly, who earns her Barbadian stripes through her father, Tori, pointed out that her zeal for helping others is spurred by her own appreciation for life’s experiences.
“Honestly, I’m not even sure when I first started volunteering. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been helping collect or giving toys, school supplies, clothes and more to people in need. I like how volunteering brings people together and keeps us humble and that is basically my motivation, just being grateful for where I am at,” Kelly told Sportsmax.tv.
“Whenever I am collecting supplies, toys, food, clothes, or whatever I’m doing, my gym, my mom’s work, and my friends and family are always so supportive. They always donate and ask if I need anything. People always have no problem donating things, especially if they don’t have time to volunteer.
“It’s a good way for everyone to give back. Everyone doesn’t have the same resources, but most people are willing to give back in one way or another. I’m always looking to do a little more and trying to reach more people,” she added.
While the initiative is focused mostly on the United States, the 17-year-old has in the past extended a helping hand to Barbados and revealed that she is hoping to do more at some point.
“I’m always trying to bring my help into Barbados. It’s not cheap to get supplies over there. I have donated leotards to Flip Gym, went in and offered lessons to the gymnasts there and most recently posted and donated to a charity organization called Build up Bim,” she shared.
“I would definitely like to keep doing this, maybe even finding more time to actually go out and volunteer. I can’t talk about it yet, but I do have something in the works with a teammate of mine to help athletes who lack resources,” Kelly revealed.
The soft-spoken gymnast, who has her eyes set on becoming the first gymnast to represent the Eastern Caribbean Island at the Olympic Games, and, if successful, it would propel her career to higher heights.
Achieving such a dream is by no means impossible and Kelly, also known as "Storm," in gymnastics circles, is well positioned herself to make it happen when she takes the World Gymnastics Championships stage in Antwerp, Belgium, next month.
The event serves an Olympic qualifier and, as such, Kelly, despite her voluntary efforts outside of the gym, is focused on ensuring her performance quality and the details of her routine are on point, while staying physically and mentally healthy.
“Fortunately, volunteering never takes away any time or affect my training in any way. I’m able to work around my training and my family is a huge help in making it happen,” she declared.
“I had to take a few weeks off after PanAm for my back. I have Scoliosis and every so often I get to a point where my back needs some rest. I’m in the gym now adding things slowly and listening to my body and I am fortunate to have great doctors and coaches to help me through.
“Being back in the gym is going really well. I definitely feel like I’m in a better mental and physical space this year, and I feel much more confident going into this Worlds. I have much more experience this year as well, which definitely helps, so I’m very excited to compete in Belgium this year and give the 2024 Olympics a shot,” Kelly ended.
Sherdon Cowan is a five-time award-winning journalist with 10 years' experience covering sports.
Barbados to welcome Oman early for preparation camp ahead of T20 World Cup
As the much-anticipated ICC Men’s T20 World Cup draws closer, Barbados will welcome West Asian team Oman to the island for their pre-tournament camp ahead of the global showpiece to be hosted jointly in the Caribbean and United States.
While in Barbados, Oman’s camp, scheduled for May 14-24, will also include three T20 matches – two against a Barbados Select XI, and one match against University of the West Indies –as they fine tune preparations for the June 1-29 World Cup.
The camp is being organised by former England batsman and West Indies Senior Men’s Selector Roland Butcher, who saw it fit to assist Oman in getting acclimatised to the Eastern Caribbean Island, which will host a number of games throughout the tournament, including the final.
“It is great that the Oman team will be coming out to Barbados early for their pre-tournament camp. They will use the period to get acclimatised to the conditions, as quick as possible. We are delighted to have them in Barbados – this country is the ideal place to start their preparations,” Butcher said.
“We believe the time spent here will be hugely beneficial towards them putting on a good showing in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024,” he added.
Duleep Mendis, the former Sri Lanka captain and Oman’s Head Coach expressed his team’s delight and anticipation ahead of their arrival in Barbados.
“It is one of the cricket locations which we all dream of visiting and we want to make the most of our time as we prepare. We have high ambitions in this tournament, and we want to focus on our plans from the moment we touch down in a country which is known for its cricket culture and heroes,” Mendis shared.
Oman recently named their World Cup squad, which will be led by all-rounder Aqib Ilyas, who takes the reins from Zeeshan Maqsood. This year’s World Cup will mark Oman’s third appearance in the last four editions of the tournament, which underlines their success and consistency in performing at the global level.
Oman enjoyed a dazzling 2023 campaign, as they copped the Gulf Cricket Cup, followed by an unbeaten run in the ICC T20 World Cup Asia qualifiers, which secured their spot in the upcoming tournament. They were also runners-up in this year’s ACC Premier Cup.
The West Asian team, drawn in Group B alongside Australia, England, Scotland, and Namibia, will open their T20 World Cup campaign against the latter, in Barbados, on June 2.
Jamaica, Barbados engage partnership to enhance athletics in the Eastern Caribbean Island
If things go according to plans, then Jamaica and Barbados will execute a partnership with aimed at enhancing athletics training and coaching quality in Barbados.
This was revealed by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, who pointed out that plans are currently in the pipeline for a collaborative effort between the two island nations, which will involve an exchange of coaching expertise to elevate the standard of sports training.
“There’s a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Jamaica and us to exchange coaches to be able to work with them in terms of how we develop,” Griffiths revealed, adding that plans for the bilateral initiative was birthed by a similar partnership between Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
“I was in Washington at a conference and had a sit-down with Minister [Olivia] Grange, Minister of Sports in Jamaica. They have worked with Trinidad in terms of developing the coaches there,” he noted.
Griffith acknowledged that there are concerns about the current coaching standards in Barbados and, as such, emphasized the necessity of having highly skilled coaches to match the calibre of world-class athletes.
“I won’t push it at this meeting, but I’m concerned with the level of coaches. I think that if you’re going to have a world-class athlete, you must match that athlete with a world-class coach,” he declared.
That said, Griffiths pointed out that upcoming infrastructural developments are in place to complement ongoing sporting initiatives within the country.
“I’m looking to see how we can have that marriage where we can fuse resources together in terms of working with Jamaica to develop the athletes on island. Hopefully by next week or the week after, you will see work starting on the old netball stadium to turn that into a multi-discipline facility for netball, basketball, and volleyball,” he shared.
Jamaica, T&T drawn in Group B of League A for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are set to cross swords in the group stages of this year’s fourth edition of the Concacaf Nations League, as both were drawn in Group B of League A for the 2024/25 campaign which is scheduled to kick off in September.
This year’s Concacaf Nations League will again be contested in a three-league format –Leagues A, B and C –and will see the Confederation’s 41 senior men’s national teams doing battle during the FIFA match windows of September, October, and November 2024. The semi-finals and finals of the tournament, which serves as the qualifiers for next summer’s 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, are scheduled for March 2025.
The teams have been grouped across the respective Leagues based on their results from the 2023/24 staging. The Reggae Boyz and their Soca Warriors counterparts, who contested the business end of the competition for the first time in that campaign, will be hoping to do so again on this occasion.
They are among 12 teams, split in two groups of six teams each to contest League A in a “Swiss style” league system, with each team playing a total of four games (two at home and two away).
Jamaica, last edition’s semi-finalist, and Trinidad and Tobago, who made the quarterfinals, are drawn alongside Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua, and French Guiana, while Group A comprises, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Suriname, and Guyana.
After group stage play in September and October, the first and second-place finishers of each group, will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will join the four top-ranked League A teams, Mexico, United States, Panama, and Canada. The quarterfinals will be played in a home-and-away format, with the winner of each fixture, on aggregate, set to secure a berth in next year’s Finals.
Meanwhile, League B will feature 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams. Each team will play every team in its group twice. The groups were drawn as follows:
Group A -El Salvador, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Bonaire
Group B -Curacao, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Saint Martin
Group C -Haiti, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and St Maarten
Group D -Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominic
Matches in each group will be played at a centralized venue instead of the previous home-and-away format, to alleviate travel challenges that Member Associations face.
The third best-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, the second best-ranked teams will host the October matches, and the best-ranked teams will host the decisive November matches.
Over in League C, which consists of nine teams, divided into three groups of three teams, the format takes a similar shape, where each team will play every team in its group twice.
Group A -Barbados, Bahamas, and US Virgin Islands
Group B -Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla
Group C-Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cayman Islands, and British Virgin Islands
Where centralized venues are concerned, the second highest-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, and the highest-ranked teams will host the October matches.
Schedule:
Group Stage: September 2-10, October 7-15, and November 11-19, 2024
Quarterfinals: November 11-19, 2024
Semifinals: March 20, 2025
Final and Third Place Match: March 23, 2025
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