In an effort to recognise our young people making strides, every week we will feature at least one young person from the OECS on Talent Tuesday. This week we feature 4 outstanding cricketers from UWI Cavehill Campus. In this piece, we feature Keron Cottoy.
Sprouting from the rich fertile soil of St.Vincent and Grenadines, Keron Cottoy flourishes onto the cricket field.
Just like the St.Vincent soil nurtures a seed until it buds, Cottoy`s background such as his family, coaches and friends have supported him until he was ready to go out on his own.
They have strengthened him into what he is today.
Cottoy began his cricketing scholarship at Cavehill due to persons such as Horton Dolphin who was a former CCC manager. They helped Cottoy secure a scholarship at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus and essentially paved the way for him. Since it took Cottoy five years before starting university and had some form of working experience prior, transitioning wasn't a difficult task. He was already used to time management so it wasn't much of a setback.
Some of the past teams Cottoy played for were The St. Vincent & Windward islands youth teams, the West Indies High-Performance Centre & the Combine Colleges & Campus team, Victors Cricket Club and the Emmanuel high school Mesopotamia. Cottoy now plays for the Windward island cricket teams, the UWI Blackbirds cricket team and the St. Lucia Zouks. He is a bowling all-rounder, bowls leg spin and he bats left handed.
A mental trick that he always practices is keeping his mind and body relaxed and by always having fun in whatever he does. He believes that simplicity is the key to unlocking his true potential.
At times, time management can prove itself to be difficult with regards to balancing school and cricket. Injuries are also a place of concern for Cottoy but he tries to manage these aspects and accepts it as a part of the life of a sportsman. Another negative aspect of a sportsman according to Cottoy is the discontinuations of both the West Indies school of excellence and the Combine College & Campuses (CCC) four (4) day completion. Since Cottoy personally benefited from these programs, he believes that the inclusion CCC would benefit many young talented cricketers in the Caribbean Professional Cricket League. Therefore, it would develop themselves academically and have the CCC as part of different leagues would help develop players professionally.
Keron Cottoy's motivation to pursue his career is his parents. He wants them to "be a part of something great and unique". By seeing cricket as a way out of poverty he is kept motivated by hoping that he too, will inspire another person to do the same. Lastly, he is kept motivated to continue pursuing his cricket career by using cricket as a form of self-expression. Since he is normally an introvert, cricket helps him to come out of his shell and really express himself. His advice to young athletes is that they must always be their true selves. He also advises that they should give it their all no matter what and manage their time well. They should always have God at their side because he will always be the answer to their problems.
After he finishes his studies, Cottoy plans on playing for the West Indies and other professional cricket leagues. Also, he would also love to be a Sports Director so that he can implement programs to help further development with regards to sports.
Know someone that should be featured in Talent Tuesdays? Send us an email at oecsyes@oecs.org
