LESS than a year after completing a historic performance and ninth place finish in the ski cross event at a 2010 event in Vancouver, Canada, Errol Kerr once again finds himself struggling to find sponsorship to realise his dreams of becoming the first Jamaican to win a Winter Olympic Games medal.

The 24-year-old California native switched allegiance to Jamaica in 2008 as he sought to represent the land of his forefathers at the fledgling winter sport.

He came close after finishing ninth overall in Vancouver and believes he can medal at the next event in Sochi, Russia in 2014, but he is struggling to find the funds just to keep his ranking in the top 25 in the world which is necessary in order to qualify for the Olympics.

“We thought that after his (Kerr’s) incredible performance we would have been able to get sponsorship, (but) not so,” president of the Jamaica Ski Federation Richard Salm told the Observer.

He said that already Kerr had missed some key races this year and was hoping to be able to garner sponsorship to compete in two events in France early in the new year.

“The season has started already, we’ve got a trainer who hasn’t been paid for six months. We missed two World Cup races in December through lack of funding, we’ve the events and if we don’t get some funding in place the team is going to disintegrate.”

He added: “It’s four years and it costs US$10,000 per month to stay in the top ten… we want to keep up because we seriously think we can medal in 2014.”

Salm added that Kerr had surrendered his opportunity to compete for the United States because he had felt especially close to Jamaica as his father was born in the island, while being under the impression that he might be able to get the full backing he needed from local entities.

For Kerr, who paid a visit to the island in October, now finds himself in a place where he might be unable to fulfil those dreams, and this is especially disheartening for the skier.

“He’s obviously not over the moon. He was very happy about it when he came to Jamaica in October (and) went away revitalised, but when the funds aren’t coming in and the season is getting closer… he’s obviously a bit demoralised about it,” Salm said.

The local ski boss said Kerr is prepared to compete “as long as he feels the country is behind him”.

“The SDF is being as helpful as they can, Minister Grange is being as helpful a she can, but we just need people to step up to the plate,” Salm noted.

The athlete has unfortunately lost one sponsor, whose business closed and he is now hoping to get more backing from energy drink manufacturers Red Bull.

Kerr is scheduled to travel to Europe on January 7, and has two more races before the X Games and the World Championships in 2011.

“We are desperate to get the private sector behind us in some way, shape or form,” Salm concluded.