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Football hall of famer and former national footballer Shaka Hislop yesterday underscored the power of sports in nurturing young minds and went on to debunk a widely held myth many among school administrators and parents that allowing children to become active in sports will serve as a direct impediment to their academic success.

Speaking at the close of the Atlantic/Ministry of Sport 17th annual Sport Desk Leadership Symposium yesterday, held at the Petrea Hall at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya the former Soca Warrior goalkeeper told hundreds of excited youths delighted to come face-to-face with him.

“Sport opened up opportunities for me academically and then academics opened up opportunities for me athletically in a way I don’t think I could ever have planned for. As a student I was alright at school; decent at football, as well, and my father continued to drum into me that the two went hand-in-hand.

“If I wasn’t doing well in school, I wasn’t playing well on the field and vice versa. So for me, it had always been about a balancing act about what I was doing in the classroom and what I was doing on the football field. That motivated me to continue and opened up opportunities for me that I don’t think one or the other might have done.”

Hislop continued, “It was through football that I attained a scholarship at Howard University. It was after playing at university and being spotted playing at university I was offered a spot with an indoor team. This was pre-MLS in the United States. A coach from the Baltimore Blast offered me a spot. As it turned out they were touring that summer in England and a scout spotted me in England and that’s how I found myself playing at Reading Football Club.”

The celebrated sportsman who was asked to speak on the topic “Being A Role Model”, said he did not know how to tackle the subject, citing it was not a phrase he used to describe himself. So he thought it would be cool to tell audience he was a reluctant role model.

In an effort to explain his decision to embrace the phrase “reluctant role model”, Hislop said, “I’ll tell you why I say that. I have never done anything in my life to be a role model. I just tried to be the best that I can be.

“I have said to people and I continue to say it up to this day, my mother threatened to put me over her lap and spank me if I ever embarrassed her. I think she will. I’ve used that as my moral compass. What would my mother expect? What would my father do? I’ve not tried to be anything that I wasn’t. I’ve not set out to do anything that seemed super human.”