Cyclists Darel Christopher Jr., left, Olympia Fahie & Tennis player Deane Fonseca, will train in Atlanta from July 5-Aug 16

TORTOLA—The British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee is sponsoring three athletes from two of its member federations, at a six week camp scheduled for the DeKalb International Training Center in Atlanta, Ga.

Cyclists Olympia Fahie and Darel Christopher Jr., along with Tennis player Dean Fonseca, will attend the Atlanta camp from July 5-Aug 16. Fahie and Christopher will use the camp to prepare for the Aug 18-19 Caribbean Jr. Cycling Championships in Barbados. Fonseca’s opportunity will expose him higher training level and prepare him to compete in regional tournaments.

All three are being developed with an eye towards representing the BVI at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.

“We’re now going to have the opportunity for Darel and Olympia to be trained by John Kelly, a former Pan American Games cycling champion for the next six weeks,” said David Thomas, BVI Cycling Federation president, and also the BVI Olympic Committee public relations officer. “We have the Caribbean Jr. Cycling Championships coming up in Barbados. After the success of both Darel and Olympia last year, we want to make sure they continue their growth. Now that they are at the junior level, it will be 10 times harder than last year. However, we feel pretty confident that after the six week program, that they can probably medal in the time trial event.”

BVI Lawn Tennis Association president Henry Creque said he think it’s a great opportunity for the junior athletes. “Our goal is to see Deane develop as far as he is willing to be developed and to push himself to be a competitive tennis player, to be ready for regional and international games in the near future,” Creque said. “It’s also for him to have a good time and become a better sportsman. We are as excited as he is and hopefully, after his training, we will have established a relationship with a group outside the BVI that can be used as a resource for future juniors coming up.”

Fahie said it was be the best training she has been exposed to. “I’ll just try to take advantage of it and try my best,” she said. “And we’ll see what happens from there.”

Christopher said is aim is to get better, make new friends and go further in sports, while Fonseca said he aim to absorb as much as possible, so that when he returns and play in tournaments, he can get a higher ranking.