By Neto Baptiste
Former national sprinter, Heather Samuel Daley, has urged student-athletes to utilise every opportunity to promote the twin-island state when studying or competing abroad.
He call comes amidst the worldwide suspension on sports due to the spread of the deadly coronavirus or COVID 19.
“I remember taking back to school, CDs of Antigua and Barbuda. I remember when they had some Little Bit of Paradise in terms of the books and they had them on CDs and I used to take a lot of those back to my university and leave them all over the place like down in the lobby in the hall, at the student center at some of my classes and as a matter of a fact, I remember doing a whole class on Antigua,” she said.
Daley, who attended the Murray State University in Murray Kentucky, USA from 1991 to 1994, is currently the country’s Director of Sports and believes that as both students and athletes, there is a civic duty to promote one’s country in a positive light at all times.
“We are the biggest ambassadors for Antigua and Barbuda in terms of exposing and telling persons about Antigua and Barbuda so I would think it would incumbent on any team or individual leaving here for and I am not even talking about the Olympics but if you’re going off to some university in Russia or China or wherever that these are some of the things you take with you to these countries so that you can distribute to persons,” Daley said. Daley is one of the country’s most decorated athletes across both the male and female categories. She has won a total of 210 medals which includes regional and collegiate competitions. She is also a three times Sportswomen of the Year.