Minister Hon. Maurice Lake of Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), is calling on the business community to support young local future baseball stars.
Four young baseball players namely, Denzel A. Brooks, Martel Hartley, Raul Jacobs and Junior King were selected by the Virgin Islands Future Baseball Organization to take part in a try out. At the end of January they traveled to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands where they tried out and competed against other top talent from across the Caribbean.
This year Virgin Islands Future Stars is invited to participate in the 1st Annual Perfect Game Academy Challenge in Fort Meyers, Florida from Wednesday, April 2nd to Monday April 7th.
This challenge provides a unique opportunity for organizations to place their stamp on the national baseball stage and the usual attendance of college and professional scouts will double while the Virgin Islands Future Stars team competes during that period.
Minister Lake sponsored part of the trip for them to go to St. Thomas along with other sponsors, and is now appealing to the business community to sponsor the players who would like to get the opportunity to go to Fort Meyers in early April. Each player has a financial obligation of US$1,395 which includes airfare, registration fee and meals.
Virgin Islands Future Baseball Organization takes pride in developing quality student athletes who can competitively compete against top talent. Players are enrolled in colleges and universities in the United States. Virgin Islands Future Stars continues to promote baseball as a conduct to higher learning and professional sports careers.
"I am very proud of all the four selected players and looking forward to continue to support them in their endeavors. Each one of them is talented. Raul Jacobs is very talented, but is too young to take part in the Fort Meyers challenge event, but he will be able to in the next few years. They all have very bright futures ahead of them.
"These young players are role models for other young people and they should have an opportunity to compete against others and get selected and move forward and upward in becoming professional baseball career players. I encourage the business community to make their dreams become a reality. Be a part of the process to make these young people stars of our country. The stars are the limit, lets support our youths," Minster Hon. Maurice Lake said on Monday.
Minister Lake was a former Little League player.
PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R, Denzel A. Brooks, Minister Hon. Maurice Lake, Martel Hartley and Raul Jacobs. Not in the photo is Junior King. The four of them were selected to travel to St. Thomas while three will travel to Fort Meyers, Florida.