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HomeNewsArchivesFuture Stars Trio Earn Four-Year Trip to U.S. Colleges

Future Stars Trio Earn Four-Year Trip to U.S. Colleges

April 21, 2008 — The Future Stars Baseball organization can now add three more V.I. students to their growing list of athletes playing college or major league baseball.
Jeudys Garcia, Jamaine Cotton and Joel Bellot stood on the field at Kirwan Terrance Ballpark Sunday afternoon and used each other's backs to sign letters of intent to attend college on the mainland. Garcia, 17, plays outfield for Charlotte Amalie High School, while Bellot, also 17, plays catcher. Both will be attending the Division II Western Oklahoma State College.
Cotton — who has propelled the Ivanna Eudora Kean Devil Rays to a so far undefeated 2008 season — will further his training at Western Oklahoma Junior College.
The trio have earned almost full scholarships to their respective schools, according to Darren Canton, Future Stars founder.
"The scholarships are good as long as they complete and graduate all classes that they're currently in," he said. "But this is a good opportunity for them to compete at the collegiate level."
Canton said that Future Stars events over the past year, such as scouting days and tournaments, have helped get the players noticed by college recruiters.
"These guys just need about a year, a year and a half, and they will develop," he said. "And I'm so glad that they will continue to have the chance to go out there and show what they can do."
The players said they were excited about their scholarships.
"We are very proud to have these scholarships, especially coming from the Virgin Islands," Bellot said. "We've worked hard for seven or eight years, most of us, and it's paid off — we've gotten into some of the greatest schools in the United States. And we just want to say thank you to everyone who has always been there supporting us."

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