HAILE Selassie High School situated on Payne Avenue in Kingston 11 received a boost to its football programme with a gift of 20 pairs of football boots and a number of balls yesterday.

The gift, from the Atlanta Youth Soccer Association (AYSA), is a continuation from last year’s initial assistance and was made possible through the instrumentality of the director of coaching and player development co-ordinator, Jamaican Brian P Stoddart.

Stoddart, a former Wolmer’s Boys and Barbican FC player, said the donation is the “continuation of a pledge made by the AYSA to assist an inner-city school in Jamaica with sporting equipment and, by extention, provide an opportunity to study and play soccer in the US”.

In addressing the gathering at the handing-over ceremony at the school’s library, Stoddart explained the motivation behind the donation and challenged the students to merge sport and education as a passion and guiding principle in order to move up in the world.

“While I love the sport and want to promote the sport let me tell you guys, focus keenly on education because if your education is your passion with your talent for playing the game you can take yourselves much further…

“The most important lesson to be learnt… is that you cannot have football without education and prosper…” he added.

“… If you’re are thinking about college in the future, there is another programme to get you up to Atlanta to play football as well,” he said.

Following a trip to Jamaica last year where they played a series of matches, Atlanta Youth Soccer donated a wide range of football equipment to Haile Selassie and to the community.

Asked about his passion for promoting inner-city football and support from AYSA, Stoddart said: “As you are aware, continuity is the major axis upon which success is based and achieved, and to make it possible even in these hash economic times it was imperative for us at AYSA to carry on the commitment we made last year to assist Haile Selassie to use sport as a medium to help to enhance the development of mind, body and spirit in the school’s community.”

Principal Lorenzo Ellis was heartened by the gesture and has set in place a programme that offers “not just respite, but alternatives to students who are otherwise distracted”.

In underlining the magnitude of the contribution, Ellis said: “We believe that a part of our goal is to contribute to the all-round development of our students. It’s in our mission statement that we must contribute to their personal, social, spirital and cultural development.

“Sports for us… is not just a subject; it’s one of those areas in which we must make an investment because of its potential to contribute to the all-round development of our students — mental, social and spiritual…,” he added.