Maya Palacio

Maya is a journalism student in Nova Scotia, who has found her voice in the midst of our island’s political space. She often breaks down and speaks about current issues, starting conversations that often wouldn’t happen, especially within the younger crowd.

She recently launched her podcast “Bermudity”, which is set to touch on the struggles and experiences Bermudians go through, emphasizing on the younger generation. It is a very interesting conversation on topics and issues that often go unaddressed.

Follow her at @mayapalacio

Rael Iman

The makeup artist behind Iman Artistry has been around for a while now, and her craft just keeps getting better. Alongside her makeup services, she has also ventured into classes and even her own eyelash line. Her growing success comes as no surprise — talent, a great work ethic and innovation are behind her brand. She’s a great example of a Bermudian pursuing her passion, regardless of how limited opportunities can sometimes be on the island.

Follow her at @iman.atistry 

Jayde Gibbons

Jayde is the photographer behind Queendom Heights. She is switching things up from the typical pink sand and white roof shots we’re used to, capturing Bermuda in a more authentic light through her lens. It is truly refreshing to see a change in what many think art is “supposed to look like”, and rather seeing artists explore their craft following their own rules. Authentic is definitely the word to describe Queendom Heights.

Follow her at @queendom_heights

Harry Scupham

Harry is another photographer to keep an eye out. His Instagram page @dirty_angels_, with over 40 thousand followers, is filled with unique photography and a taste of his undeniable talent, it makes it hard to believe he’s so young. We can’t wait to see Harry’s craft evolve over time.

Follow him at @dirty_angels_

Nkosi Hollis

This Bermudian singer has been showcasing his craft online for a few years now. What started as covers on YouTube has evolved into releasing his own fully produced original work. Music not only requires talent but also resources, which are limited in Bermuda, which is why it is so encouraging to see young artists push through barriers and seeing their ideas come to life. He is set to lease an EP soon, so keep an eye out for Nkosi.

Follow him at @nkosimusic

The post 5 young Bermudians to keep on your radar appeared first on RG Magazines.

Jessie Marshall, Amber Simons, Nick Pilgrim and Caleb Ingham, all young Bermudian triathletes who also compete in other sports and regularly compete overseas, have been selected to hold the medals for podium finishers in next Saturday’s World Championship races.

They will be part of the ceremony on the blue carpet, smartly dressed in pink shirts and blue Bermuda shorts, representing Bermuda in a medal ceremony that is broadcast to 160 territories worldwide.

The four students were all members of Tri-Hedz, the youth triathlon training group that Flora Duffy also started with. They’ve now progressed to international competition and all of them are also competing in Saturday morning’s Age Group amateur race.

The Men’s Elite Race award ceremony starts at 3.00pm and the Women’s Elite Race award ceremony starts at 6.00pm and will be set up in the finish chute of the course, in the middle of the MS Amlin World Triathlon sporting arena, at No 1 Car Park on Front Street. The public is invited as part of the festivities, it is free to attend and can also be seen on the event village big screens.

The students said, they are “excited about meeting some of their triathlon heroes” and having this responsibility in the international event. The students have rehearsed their duties twice in readiness for the big day.

Elite athletes from 30 countries will be race in Bermuda on Saturday in the second of 8 global World Series events this season.  A prestigious global sporting event, the World Triathlon Series has attracted nearly 100 professional athletes and more than 600 amateur athletes.

Course maps and details of the weekend’s festivities are available at www.tribermuda.com

The post Young Bermudians feature in World Championship medal ceremony appeared first on RG Magazines.

Led by a referee and his assistants, two teams of players march out on to a pristine pitch as Handel’s Zadok the Priestis played over loud speakers and a crowd of thousands waits in anticipation of the game to come. It is a familiar sight to anyone who has watched the Uefa Champions League over the past several years, and now it is happening, minus the crowds, on the North Field, at the National Sports Centre, in Bermuda.

The brainchild of Kenny Thompson and Andrew Bascome, the Youth Football Super League Bermuda is the latest attempt to provide ‘serious’ football competition for local players with aspirations of being the next Lionel Messi, Christian Ronaldo, or Nahki Wells. A league aimed at players from the under-9 to under-15 age groups means for many involved that dream is still very much alive.

On Monday evenings the island’s young footballers play in their own champions league under lights in an atmosphere that while not quite electric, has the feel of a competition that carries as much weight for the players here as it does elsewhere. It is a place where, for a while at least, those taking part can believe anything is possible.

“It is normal for players of that age to have ambitions to be professionals – the reality is that very few will get there, but I am a firm believer in ‘why not’,” said Thompson. “Why not go for it, who am I to say that only a few can make it, so don’t even try. It is our responsibility to give them the best chance to succeed.”

It is not a chance that the island’s best young players have always been given. There is a valid argument to be made that the likes of Shaun Goater, Kyle Lightbourne, Reggie Lambe, Nahki Wells and others succeeded despite the system they were developed in, rather than because of it. The gap in youth development has long been recognised as being an issue in Bermuda; it is a gap that Thompson, Bascome, and the Bermuda Football Association, who support the initiative, are hoping to close.

“We do very basic football activities very well, for children that want to play football the opportunity is there,” Thompson said. “Then there is part of the football population, they are very serious [about the game], and they have serious ambitions, and they have to be catered to as well. I think overall, in Bermuda, we have tended to leave out [the needs] of that serious population.”

Thompson knows what it feels like to be let down when, as a young player in Bermuda, your expectations aren’t met. He and Bascome were what he terms ‘serious players’, ones whose approach even in the week preceding a pre-season friendly was dominated by training, eating, and sleeping right. He quickly learnt that not everyone felt the same way.

“I would take it very seriously, and then arriving for the match that all falls out of the window because I’m taking it seriously, but there are no goals, the field is not marked, there is no official referee, no uniforms,” he said.

“There is a level of disappointment there, and that was a recurring situation, and that’s pre-season. The league matches weren’t that bad, but still there was a feeling that we weren’t serious. In many ways it didn’t live up to our expectations.

“I think today we’re getting that [same sentiment] from young people, taking into consideration that back in our day we didn’t have all the information at our fingertips that these children have today. We didn’t know what top football looked like on a regular basis, you fast forward to this generation and they’re watching the Champions League, and the Premier League, and La Liga, and Bundesliga, and this is every day. They see it on the internet, they see it on their phones; they are just in touch with the reality of what top football looks like.”

With knowledge comes a realisation from young players that in many ways they were being short changed by the system that Bermuda had in place for developing the skills of the next generation. “These serious players, we give them what amounts to be nothing more than just a kick-about – an open space with a football, two teams playing, that’s about it,” Thompson said. “And that has its place, definitely has its place, because everybody should have the opportunity to play football. But, for those serious guys, their expectations are much higher than any other generation before.

“They can pinpoint what they have, in comparison to what they see. At seven, or eight, nine, 10 years old, they are flying with ambition and we keep disappointing them, and at maybe 12 the interest starts to wear off, and by 15 or 16 they’re not playing at all. And we see, progressively, that as the players get older the number of players is dropping off.”

Player development is not something new to Thompson or Bascome, both have tried their best to improve football on the island at a variety of levels. The new competition was the result of a realisation of their own, that something serious had to be done to serve the ambitions and abilities of the island’s talented young players.

“We felt that this was the time to do something very, very serious for youth football; something that spoke to meeting the expectations of young players,” Thompson said.

Serious meant competition, a pathway for players to improve, coaches who understood that making mistakes is as important in player development as winning, and that building character, moulding a professional mindset was all part of what was missing.

“ Even on an island of 60,000 people, why shouldn’t these young people dream, and the fact of the matter is that the next Lionel Messi could come from anywhere in the world,” Thompson said. “We won’t know, and we won’t provide that individual with the best chance unless we provide these sorts of things, and in this case, this competition.”

Thompson knows that the percentage of players who actually make it as the top level is impossibly small when compared with those that dream of making it. But, he also knows that being exposed to a serious environment early can lead to an ability to have a career off the field as well.

“It’s the same whether their ambition is to be a professional footballer, or the ambition is to get a college scholarship, the demands are the same,” he said. “It’s going to take sacrifice, it’s going to take perseverance, it’s going to take really hard work. You have to better than the next person, it’s all the same.

“With this competition we are building that mentality to give the next Nahki Wells a really good chance to succeed. I’m so proud of Nahki, and Reggie (Lambe) and others, and the thing is they’ve done, they’re doing it, but they’re doing it despite [coming from Bermuda] not as a result of some system that we had in place.

“So, imagine what they could have done with a much better structure in place.”

The post Kenny Thompson: Chasing the dream appeared first on RG Magazines.

It’s his secret to success.

And it’s part of that success that has seen the growth and empowerment of boys in the community in his role as mentor and, most recently, as the executive director at Impact Mentoring Academy (IMA), an all-boys charter school.

With education in crisis teaching boys has been looked at as a problem.

“We as adults are the problem as children are the product of their environment, and what they have been conditioned to believe from racism to hatred to sexism it is all perpetrated by the environment they are brought up in,” said Chris when RG Magazine met him just before the school year began for IMA.

“We look at the student and character focus is first and most important, so we’re not trying to compete with test scores. We have a strategic advantage here because we are student-focused.”

Chris was born in the United States and adopted as a baby by black parents, as at the time it was considered taboo for his white mother to have a black baby. His adopted father had a profound impact in his life as he refused to allow him to be involved in any negativity despite his own hardships. In turn, Chris has been focused on mentoring young boys since his university days when his now wife encouraged him to join Big Brothers Big Sisters in the St Augustine, Florida area where they attended school together.

There’s been a systematic marginalisation of boys in Western education

It was there that the basketball star found his calling that would eventually lead him to Bermuda to work for the Ministry of Education, co-found the Team Street Safe programme, become a youth mentor, and take on his present post leading middle and high school boys to achieving their greatest potential.

“There’s been a systemic marginalisation of boys in Western education and that means there’s now a lack of men stepping up and taking on their responsibility,” Chris said. “The community is suffering and women and children are suffering and it’s putting a strain on our community resources.”

While basketball and its principles were part of Chris’ own development into a focused and dedicated mentor, his time as a Big Brother was the beginning of his path to educating boys.

“Basketball has taught me the principles and habits that I like to call my secrets to success,” he said. “Ingredients of a productive mindset, attitude and focus that can be applicable to any arena.”

And it was during his basketball career at Flager College that the business major realised how simple and effective it could be to just give time to the youth in underprivileged areas and the projects near the college.

“It was one weekend when I was spending time with my little brother and I told him I didn’t have any money to take him to the movies, and it was when he said, ‘that’s okay, I just wanted to spend time with you,’ that I realised that I really wanted to get into education and that was where my gift was.

“I was doing what my dad did for me and I didn’t have to go to school to learn that,” he added. “For me, being a mentor is vital, because by helping others its helps me appreciate what I have and who I am. The best way to get involved is to see a need and meet a need. It’s all around us. The question is our individual willingness.”

Not enough men are stepping up and saying, ‘I’m committed to you no matter what’

So while IMA is sending men out into the world with the knowledge they need, they are also teaching them how to question and explore their world, to adapt to the changing world as well as become men of character to develop qualities that extend far beyond the school walls.

“In my experience and perspective I believe first as a community we have to value men and make that our top priority, so that being a man can be something to be desired in the capacity to serve others,” Chris said. “Then men have to value women and honour them by making a commitment to creating a holy union for life.

“Then, subconsciously, the value of being a father will be embedded in both men and the community. Translating to becoming a healthy, productive and committed father will be a more natural and socially empowering transition.

“These values are important to reinforcing the importance of being a man, and that you as a man have so much to give despite your title or position. I feel like I’m living my purpose and I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity to be part of the school, and that the parents and board have invested in me and have faith in me working with their children.”

Impact Mentoring Academy started out as homeschool in 2001 and the school has grown in strength, and size, over the past 16 years. With a 75 per cent retention rate in its first 14 years the school is now housed in the Old Berkeley school building, and is continually inundated with interest in prospective students. And anyone who may have any scepticism towards the school’s untraditional way of teaching boys are always welcome to visit IMA to find out how the difference is getting results.

“Our main goals are to establish an institution for transformation for the mind, body and soul,” Chris said. “Our focus is boys becoming men due to the power of what they possess for not just themselves but for everyone. The value of men becoming servant leaders is the image we are trying to exemplify and instil within them.

“While there are many big achievements for IMA I can only speak to what has happened in my first two years regarding personal growth in the parents, students and staff that is life changing. We have now reached the highest enrolment in our history as well as an increase in staffing, programmes and administration. My goal daily is to get better day by day and challenge myself and our team.

“We also have new local and international partners. We want to be the flagship institution in the world for boys. We are working to compile research and best practices to create the culture that allows for the results we desire.”

Personally, his life has come full circle having married the woman that encouraged him to mentor in the first place, and he lists his wife, his children and his faith as his greatest achievements.

And the basketball court still plays a big role in his life as he has been actively involved in the Bermuda basketball community for the past ten years as a player, coach and organiser of the Bermuda Basketball Association, Bermuda Basketball Youth Federation, the Bermuda School Sports Federation and the Wolfpack Basketball team.

“The game is growing and progressing and I am encouraged by the local and international success of our youth high school/prep players and current college players,” he said.

“Bermuda has been really good to me and I feel like what I am giving back now is a pay it forward kind of thing for me.”

The post In profile: Chris Crumpler appeared first on RG Magazines.