Education, Business, Farming, and A Love for Cricket

Perhaps the saying by Sir Thomas Moore that to be humble to superiors is a duty, to equals, a courtesy, to inferiors, nobility best describes Doctor Roy Young. A resident of Bermudian Landing, Young is highly educated and in his own way, continues to provide for students who need to advance in school. He is carrying on with his parents’ dream of managing a resort, but with all of this, he has a tenacious love for the sport of cricket. Young sat with for this week’s edition of Belize on Reel and explained how he managed to juggle it all and how he never let go of the sport, and why it’s important to revive cricket among youths. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

 

Dr. Roy Young, Cricket Enthusiast

“What I’m trying to do is to, along with others in the area – is to try to grow the area, to improve the area, to see all of our young people come up differently.”

 

 

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

He’s the owner of The Nature Resort situated behind the Community Baboon Sanctuary building in Bermudian Landing. But what many may not know is that Dr Roy Young is also President of the Belize National Cricket Association, a retired educator, a consultant, and a mentor to youths in the area. He came from humble beginnings.

 

Dr. Roy Young

“I born in this village, I born just months before Hurricane Hattie and our house blew down by the school. And so my parents moved out this side, so we were one of the first out this side of the village, and so we lived here as like a lot of people in the rural. I had to cut – I was the only son in the family, so I had to cut firewood, beat rice, and do those kinds of things. And my grandmother was my direct neighbor, so I also do those things for her.”

 

In 1979, a terrible flood made travelling between Bermudian Landing and Belize City impassable. That was for him, the imprint for his life’s path, never letting go of agriculture and the environment. But right along with that defining moment was his love for the sport of cricket.

 

Dr. Roy Young

“As young people in the Belize River Valley, we always have time for cricket. We will find that – and so I played as a young person. I played while I was at St. John’s College, in the high school team. And then I played at the village level when I came out here to teach. Our Summer Fever team was a very good team.”

 

 

It was during these halcyon days that Young’s path crossed with Felix Sutherland, a resident of Lemonal. The two share quite a few things in common, including a love for cricket. Theirs would be a friendship that Sutherland says blossomed from then and lasts to this very day.

 

 

 

Felix Sutherland, Friend of Dr. Roy Young

“I went in as a student at Belize Teachers College where he taught me REAP. REAP is an acronym for Relevant – it began as Rural Education for Agricultural Production, but realizing the worth of such a program they quickly changed the rural to relevant education in an effort to offer more schools as a result of relevant. It was offered to urban schools as well. So, he was my REAP lecturer and we have been friends ever since. He’s always one to give positive advice. He’s always one to demonstrate. He teaches by modeling what he would like to see. So he has had a profound influence on my life.”

 

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Felix Sutherland

“I am his first son’s Godfather so, we are also compadres. Presently, Roy is the President of Belize National Cricket Association. I am the Chairman of the Dispute Committee for the Belize National Cricket Association. So, wherever there’s Roy, I am maybe two steps behind or wherever I am, he may be two steps behind.”

 

 

Young says that while he no longer plays competitively, he still takes the field, and it’s always a rejuvenating feeling.

 

Dr. Roy Young

“I do play on what we call the over-fifty for those players who are fifty years and older.  So, we had a nice tournament last time. The National Sports Council came out. The Department of the Youth came out. So we have a blast.”

 

Young says as President of the Association, he wants to revive the dying sport.

 

Dr. Roy Young

“That’s part of our mandate, so right now we have a team from Carmelita, which is in Orange Walk.  We used to have a team from Belmopan. And so our effort to change that is to introduce cricket to the primary schools. So just before COVID we had teams of coaches going out to five schools in Cayo to teach them about cricket.”

 

 

In 2018, Young led the Belize Cricket Team to the regional competition and explained why it was so important for people to learn the game.

(Nov 2, 2021)

 

Dr. Roy Young, President, Belize National Cricket Association

“For people to know about cricket in Belize, we want to start with the awareness and a lot of people don’t want to play the game because they are scared of the ball.  There are different versions of the ball, there are tennis balls, there are softballs and so on.  So we have our females also playing now and they played a slightly similar ball to the hardball.”

 

Felix Sutherland says that although his friend has been successful in education, in his career and in sports, he never let any of it breed arrogance.

 

Felix Sutherland

“Speaking about Roy and putting him in the spotlight is not something that I would have envisioned because he’s always unassuming. He’s so quiet. He’s always reserved and would never be heard loudly, except whenever his, his professional or scholastic aptitude are requested of him.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.