Chevening scholar wants to improve sports in Jamaica

After being selected as one of 17 Jamaicans who have been awarded the United Kingdom (UK) Government's Chevening Scholarship, Rosheika Grant has decided to use her scholarship to pursue a master's in sports management, as she aims to improve sports in Jamaica.

The Glenmuir High School alumna, who is currently studying journalism at The University of the West Indies, Mona, will be off to Loughborough University in England to complete her master's.

She said earning the scholarship is one of the biggest achievements of her life.

"It definitely is the biggest achievement of my career as it is giving me the opportunity to study and be trained by some of the world's best at the number one school for sports-related subjects," Grant said.

Grant did not play any sports in school but described herself as an avid sports lover for most of her life.

She said her decision to study sports management was influenced by the many negative issues the Jamaican sports industry has been facing.

"As producer of the Drive Phase Podcast, I was exposed to many of the issues (safe sports, safeguarding children, gender inequality and sport management) by the stakeholders that we interviewed," she said. "On learning more about the challenges that our local administrators and athletes faced I decided I wanted to be a part of the solution by studying a programme that gives insight into the issues in sports and how they are responded to globally by different sporting organisations so that I can adapt it to the Jamaican context."

She said a lot of local stakeholders in sports aren't trained in sport management so she would like to make a change there, too, by learning more about the industry from a global context and make positive changes when she returns after her studies.

"I plan to return to Jamaica to work closely with sporting stakeholders on the issues of safe sport and gender sensitivity by advocating for these issues to be addressed in policies, and also training stakeholders in best practices regarding these issues," Grant said. "I also plan to use my experience as a communications specialist and my academic background to focus on sports marketing by liaising with sporting administrations locally, especially smaller ones, with the aim to attain more corporate support for the industry."

branding and marketing

Grant said she also has hopes of helping more athletes to get sponsorship deals by engaging them in branding and marketing.

The scholar said she also wants to give back to Jamaica through voluntary service.

"I will be giving back through voluntary work with smaller sporting organisations locally through training them in best practices for sports management and marketing," she said.

Chevening is the UK Government's international awards programme aimed at developing future global leaders professionally and academically while building lasting positive relationships with the UK and experiencing the UK culture.

This year's batch of Jamaican scholars brings the number trained since 1984 to more than 270.