Glory Denied: Hunger drives aspiring athlete to frustration

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Akiode Sinclair went to this year's 'Champs', sat with the dark blue-clad throng at the National Stadium and thoroughly enjoyed Jamaica College's (JC) march to victory. However, the 15-year-old could have been not only a bona fide member of the school's camp, but also in the famed blue strip on the track.

He ended up in the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA's) Youth Development Programme at the start of the current school year, after being expelled from JC. As he puts it, "When mi get kick out , my mother was hunting for school. My mother went to HEART on Ripon Road and they told her about here (the YMCA)".

The move down Hope Road from JC to the YMCA has proved beneficial, as the fourth-form student is not only a prefect but also deputy head boy. However, it was not as smooth a transformation in mere months as the badges Akiode proudly wears would suggest.

And he says that hunger played a significant role in his expulsion from JC.

"Mi never too comfortable at JC," Akiode told The Sunday Gleaner. "The surroundings alright, but sometimes the lunch money get mi frustrated. Mi no have no money and it make mi want to do tings."

Those 'tings' included the former Mona Primary School student running the Bloodstain gang.

The arrangement was that Akiode would receive lunch money from his stepfather at school, but he said, "Sometimes mi wait and no money no come. Sometimes mi call mi mother in the morning and she say 'yes' and mi wait, but none no come". It was different at Mona Primary, he said, because "those times mi mother did have a job. She drop out of the job because she did have a baby".

While at JC, he developed a love for sports and was eager to participate. He played football practice matches for JC at the Under-13 level, but was not allowed to participate in official games because of low grades. His best time in the 400m was 57.04 seconds.

"I go there to do track (athletics). Sometimes mi cyaa go training on hungry belly, so mi just go home," he said.

Hiccups

Akiode's father has played a significant role in his development at the YMCA. "Him sit with mi and reason with mi and sometimes mi sit down and look at things and say is a real thing, and mi try to change".

However, the transformation had its hiccups.

"The first term I disrespect a teacher. I ask her her name. I call her and she did not answer. Mi walk off and curse a bad word. True (because) mi voice heavy she hear," Sinclair said. He was taken to the principal and made to apologise.

Despite the Youth Development Programme's facilities and his father's intervention, Sinclair had to decide to make a change himself. The pivotal moment came when he collected his first report at the institution. He was not pleased with it. There were some low marks, and comments that he was wearing earrings to school. "I say 'next report I want good grades and prefect'," he said.

It is going to happen.

Sinclair is scheduled to leave the YMCA's Youth Development Programme at the end of the current school year and is clear that "I want to go back to a high school. I like sports. I want to get back into my sports".