The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

MAXIMUM Development Sports Academy was created with several goals in mind, most noteably to prepare aspiring student athletes for scholastic and professional opportunities through baseball.

Known as “MaxD,” the academy was founded by Geron Sands, Greg Burrows Jr and current professional players Antoan Richardson, of the New York Yankees, and Albert Cartwright, of the Double-A Reading Fightin’ Phils.

The quartet were just a few of many players who have benefitted from their involvement in grassroots junior programmes by going through the ranks of high school, college and the professional circuit to making an even greater contribution with the establishment of MaxD.

All four came up through the Freedom Farm Baseball League and received scholarships to play at American Heritage High School in Delray Beach, Florida.

Richardson, who has just completed a month-long stint with the Yankees, the second major league call up of his career, said the formation of the academy was an idea from the group to give back to the community through the sport.

“When I was in high, even back then my thought process was ‘I have to come back home and make sure guys can get off and go to school too’. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but it was always in my mind. You get to college, you get to meeting people and networking, but the thought was still in my head. “Then you get to pro ball and the question was ‘how can we set something up to get these guys off to school or become professionals’,” he said. “One day we were able to get with Leadership Academy and they were able to set a curriculum for our boys to do their schoolwork from home, be able to graduate and attend an accredited four-year university. We thought we had to jump on the opportunity.”

MaxD provides an avenue for players between the ages of 11 to 17 to hone their skills with the view to achieving scholarships in the United States, possibly with the opportunity to play eventually at the professional level.

Under its unique concept, MaxD has opened its door between 7am and noon for the students to be tutored in online, home-based educational classes conducted by the Leadership Academy.

The remainder of the afternoon is spent weight training or on the baseball diamond.

“We wanted these young men to have better opportunities than we had,” Richardson said. “If we had left this earth without using our networking ability to help someone else then what was it all for. Yeah, its cool I got to play with the (Atlanta) Braves and with the Yankees but if I don’t do anything with it, does it really matter?

“And I think that’s what it came down to for all of us. If we don’t do anything with what we have we would be just like anybody that didn’t do their part in baseball for the past however many years.”

MaxD hosted its inaugural 12 and under National All Star Game in April and several academy members were influential in the Freedom Farm team which narrowly missed a Little League World Series berth. Burrows was the manager of that Little League squad.

Sands said the exhibition was just one of many ventures to recreate that success for a new generation on a larger scale through the game of baseball.

“Our aim is to create a professional baseball environment that our country is in need of. We have a tremendous amount of talent here, it just needs to be honed properly and the players need as many opportunities as possible to play at a high level,” he said.

MaxD is located in the former Tropical Shipping building on East Bay Street.

There are plans for the construction of a baseball field with artificial turf in Tropical Shipping’s abandoned warehouse on the waterfront overlooking the Atlantis Paradise Island resort.

The venue will be ideal with its background to attract teams - high schools, colleges and professionals - to come to the Bahamas to compete.

Despite their baseball background, Richardson said the ultimate goal of MaxD is expansion into other sports.

“Our goal is to jump into other sports as well and find a way to help to enhance the other sports. We want to get other Bahamians to come in, who are at the top of their game in that sport, or have played at a high level, to come on board and enhance those other sports as well,” he said.

“It’s all about opportunities for our young men and preparing them for that.”