Friday, March 29, 2024

San Pedro Sports Council gets sporting equipment donation from young Belizean-American Football Player

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Young football player Timothy Paz (3rd from left) donates sporting equipment to the San Pedro Sports Council

On Thursday, August 16th Councilor Gaby Nuñez thankfully received a generous donation of sporting equipment given to the San Pedro Sports Council by 16-year-old Belizean-American football player Timothy Paz and his family. The donation which included footballs, tennis shoes, sports jerseys and other equipment are a welcome addition and comes just in time to be used for the summer football camp as well as for future sporting activities that the council has planned. In total the council received over four dozen sets of jerseys, two dozen footballs shoes and 18 footballs that they will use for sporting events in San Pedro.

Timothy Paz speaking with The San Pedro Sun

This is not the first time Timothy has donated sporting equipment to the island; in fact, when speaking with The San Pedro Sun he said that he’s been doing so for some years now whenever he comes down on vacation to visit his family and friends in San Pedro. Timothy plays football for the Norwich Free Academy Soccer Team in Connecticut, USA, and says that every couple of years his school gets brand new uniforms and equipment for their sports teams. He decided to ask his coach, Robert Briones, if he could bring down some of the equipment from previous seasons and donate them to the kids here on the island. He also got some of his friends and teammates in the U.S., who have seen what he’s been doing to help donate equipment here in Belize, to donate some stuff of their own and add to the number of items he could provide.

Councilor Nuñez said that he is ever so grateful for the kind donation Timothy and his family has made. He also expressed his hopes that in the future the National Sports Council or Minister of Sports could help make it a bit easier to donate by allowing Timothy or anyone else to bring the equipment into the country without having to pay import duty on the items. Nuñez admits that having to pay duty on items that are being donated hinders some from making those donations and also decreases the amount of the donations made, however, despite that, Timothy has stated that he intends to continue donations and will make every effort to do so annually for as long as he can.

When asked, Timothy who is an avid sports enthusiast stated that what he wants to see from the kids here that use the equipment he donates is for them to “keep their heads up… and make sure they’re not in the streets doing bad, doing drugs or drinking, and most of all … keep playing sports!

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