By Deandrea Hamilton

Editor

#Jamaica, January 19, 2022 – Jamaica has qualified with a bobsled team for the Winter Olympics, and it is the first time for the Caribbean country’s appearance in 24 years.

“It will be fire on ice as TeamJamaica secured their spot at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.  This will be the 1^st time JAM has qualified in 3 Olympic bobsled events:  four-man, two-man and women’s monobob,” tweeted TeamJamaica on Monday morning.

News reports are buzzing over the return of the electrifying TeamJamaica; unique to participate in winter sports with the obvious reason being, Jamaica never sees snow as it is a sizzling hot Caribbean destination.

For at least one team member, who showed off his qualification as part of TeamJamaica on social media, it is a dream come true.

“A childhood dream has come a reality. I gave up on this dream a few years back although I knew the elite athlete in me hasn’t died yet and had unfinished business. Blood, sweat and tears went into this and it has paid off! Best day of my sporting career! I was honoured to selected to compete in 13 out of the 16 races this season and gave it all I had.

I will have to say a special thanks to sooo many people, I’ll soon be direct messaging you, but especially my Mum, Dad and Sister…  for helping with organising my speed work over the years and continuously checking up on me for letting me use the athletics track, the @jbsfed staff, team sponsors, all my clients from my sports injury clinic business “Anatomy Well-being” and to everyone who have sent me positive messages and showed support you don’t understand how much that helped,” said Ashley Walton.

Jamaica will also have a countryman in a ski event; British-born Benjamin Alexander.

The Winter Olympics begins on February 3; an opening ceremony will take place at the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, China.  The games will span two weeks.

#TurksandCaicos, December 22, 2021 – After a 19-game season, the top teams HJ Robinson High School and Clement Howell High competed in the Interscholastic Basketball Tournament 2021 playoffs, with HJ Robinson High School securing the Champion title on December 11, 2021.

The playoffs experienced a tremendous audience turnout, with high paced sportsmanship from the players.

Coached by Omardi Morris and Kristien Simons, HJ Robinson won the playoff championship game 63-62 to the Clement Howell High School.  Coach Morris shared “We were notified late about the tournament so we were really out of shape in the beginning and had to pick up our conditioning.  But we actually embraced that adversity and that’s something we preached entirely today and have been preaching throughout our whole season.  We like the adversity, we like the challenge it makes us better. We’re Goliath now, we’re the dogs on top.”

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) moniker was awarded to Davaurii Daniel (22 points, 2 steals, 3 rebounds) from the HJ Robinson High School.  Daniel in the height of excitement shared “It’s just a blessing.  I got a little bit of tears of joy.  After I heard the final buzzer I was so happy.  The one [shot] I hit on the wing of it when I got the ball the defender was in my face and I shot it and it went in.  This is the moment I wanted, this is the moment we came here for so in my head I said we have to win this championship and this is a very improved moment for me”.

Clement Howell’s coach Kevin Harvey (along with Coach Kenneth Grant) shared appreciation for his team’s performance who dominated the first three quarters. Commending his rival coach, Smith said, “I give hats off to Coach Omardi, he did a heck off of a job.  That’s where the game is at it’s on the floor and we leave it there.  It’s anybody’s game for who gets mentally ready and it’s a challenge getting ready for four games.”

Marjorie Basden High managed to secure the third-place position against the Maranatha High School in another close call winning 64-62.  Both teams fought hard with a number of committed players, shaping up for a good future season of upcoming basketball tournaments.

Among the schools who took part in the championships were the Raymond Gardiner High School, Maranatha Academy, Marjorie Basden High School, British West Indies Collegiate, Louise GarlandThomas High School, HJ Robinson High School and Clement Howell High School.

#TurksandCaicos, November 18, 2021 – At six months in, Snjezana Andrews is the General Manager of Somerset Resort on Grace Bay, a 5-star luxury boutique Property in Providenciales.   At 37, she is one of the youngest to lead in the industry and she is the first local to ever manage the luxury resort 53- room property.

Snjezana is one of only three local women to hold such a title at high-end luxury properties on Grace Bay, within the largest industry segment in Turks & Caicos Islands.

Mrs. Andrews began her tertiary education in 2001 at North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina and graduated magna cum laude in 2005 and later went on to pursue her Masters’ with American Intercontinental University online.

She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), holding a Master’s in Business Management and dual Bachelor’s Degrees; one in Finance and the other in Accounting.

She interned with Duke University, IBM and KPMG, during her college career.

Post-graduation, she went on to work for Ernst & Young in Raleigh, North Carolina and returned home to the Turks & Caicos Islands where she worked for Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLC.

The mega-tourism industry of the island weighed heavily on her directional view, as she thought it most profitable futuristically, by way of investment, to carve out e a slice of the industry all her own.

As an answer to the inner tugging, Snjezana at age 24, ventured out and started her first business in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry, a local car rental and sales brand company, many now know as Caicos Wheels Ltd.

She later secured, international Economy rent-a-car franchise to expand her product offerings to the U.S and international markets. Tourism began to grow on her, and she decided again, to invest, only 2 years after her initial plunge into the industry, and begun Island Tours and Excursions Ltd., a full-fledged concierge and vacation booking services company.

Snjezana remained active in the financial services industry, though her business ventures were Tourism-based, and was appointed to the Turks & Caicos Islands’ Society of Professional Accountants’ Board in March 2018, where she sat as one of the Executives of the Council.

In June 2018, she was nominated as the Turks & Caicos Islands’ representative to sit on the Board of Directors for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC); the first woman and person from the country to hold this role; a role which she held for two  years.

Snjezana was Financial Controller for the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Tourist Board,  Accounting Manager with NHIP and also worked as a Senior Auditor with Grant Thornton LLC in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos.

In 2017, Mrs. Andrews began The A Team Ltd. an Accounting and Marketing Firm aimed at assisting businesses in accounting, audit, marketing and business management needs. The A Team is also licensed by the Turks & Caicos Financial Services Commission since 2019 to engage in the business of company management, company formation, annual returns and custodial services.

Through her many career pursuits, community-based initiatives are still at the center of her core, as Mrs. Andrews believes in the aid of those who are less fortunate is every citizen’s responsibility.

Mrs. Andrews currently holds the title of Board Treasurer for United Way Worldwide in the Turks & Caicos, a philanthropic organization, identified by Forbes in 2016 and 2017, as a leading US organization in the world.

She is also a member of the inaugural group of Young Leaders under the Turks & Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association.

Snjezana is married and is a mother to four beautiful children.   Mrs. Andrews has always had an ambitious spirit, believing that anything is possible once she puts her faith in God.