By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER displaying her skills for St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, Foxy Angels and the junior national team, talented point guard Karolyn Baptiste is now getting ready to compete for the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Last week, she travelled to Maine with her parents, Wilfred and Raquel Baptiste, to enrol in her freshman season on an athletic and academic scholarship for the Bengals women’s basketball team.

“So far, I’ve been able to adjust,” said Baptiste, who is looking forward to the start of their practice on Tuesday when she will officially be introduced to the team, although she is rooming in the same suite with two roommates, both in their junior years.

The 2020 graduate of SAC, who intends to study biology with a minor in sports management - athletic injuries, said she settled on the University of Maine at Fort Kent because the athletic staff showed a lot of interest in her abilities to perform on and off the court as a student-athlete.

“I also felt like this was the place God wanted me to be for this time in my life,” she stated. “I expect to make a lasting impression at UMFK, not only on the court but academically wise.

“At the end of the day when my legs give out, I will only be able to rely on my degree. So overall, I hope to make the best of the situation that God has granted me and take full advantage of it because I can always be an example that through hard work, dedication and most importantly, my faith in God, I can accomplish anything that I put my mind to do.”

The 18-year-old began playing basketball for about seven years when she started with the Big Red Machine’s junior girls team. But she noted that she didn’t actually fall in love with the sport until she was in grade nine.

Now, as a 5-foot, 5-inch guard, who believes she can play like a six-footer, she said she’s eager to take on the challenges ahead of her with the Bengals.

“So far, the administration, faculty, athletic department and students have been really welcoming and very helpful in accommodating me,” she said.

“So far, I feel like this is definitely my home away from home, despite the climate, which I’m still adjusting to. I hope to make the best of the situation God has granted me and take full advantage of it.”

Without the support of her parents, whom she says supported, loved and nurtured her from birth, Baptiste said she would not be the person she has become and in the position that she is in right now.

She also expressed her gratitude to her grandparents Stephen and Carmen Clarke, siblings Shaunice and Stephen, aunt Stefanel, uncle Sammy, awesome Godparents, her extended family and her alma mater at St Augustine’s College.

Annie Sands, who coached Baptiste since she enrolled at SAC in grade seven, said she watched as Karolyn made the transition to basketball. “She has certainly grown and matured and I’m very proud of her,” Sands said. “Sometimes you have to have patience with players like Karolyn.

“She’s one who is very fundamentally sound and she doesn’t let anything get to her. She always has a smile, even through the rough times. She’s persevered through it all and she was the life and backbone of her team-mates.”

Before she left for college and before the pandemic struck, Baptiste had the opportunity to play against Sands in the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association on the Foxy Angels, coached by Anthony Swaby and Diasti Delancy.

“I think putting that group of young ladies with Karolyn and all the other players who are off to school or going to school, gave them the greatest sense of confidence in their game more than any other aspect of their development,” Swaby said.

“It proved to them that with proper direction, they could play against anyone. That was a young team that made it to the final in the women’s night league. So playing against the senior quality ball players night after night helped their confidence.”

He commended Delancy for preparing them to go off to school. He noted that he anticipates that the future is bright for her and the rest of her teammates.

To those student-athletes whom she has left behind in the Bahamas, Baptiste encouraged them to “believe in yourself and strengthen your faith in God and once you put in the work, your gift will make room for you as the Bible says.”