Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer

Student of mechanical technology at the University of Technology (UTech) in St Andrew, 24-year-old Mellissa Farquharson is a bartender at Rib Cage Bar and Grill, but also a WNBA (the US-based Women's National Basketball Association) hopeful.

The accomplished basketballer who has played on the Jamaica Under-17 and Under-19 teams for several seasons, says, "They say because of my height it is not possible, but I tell them I am going to prove them wrong and I will get there."

Mellissa Farquharson is not lacking in confidence, a fact she attributes to her parents - Carrol Cooks-Farquharson and Osmond Farquharson - and training in the ICD-based Multicare programme. This is a sports and arts training programme Multicare runs in several schools islandwide.

She credits her acheivements to coaches in this system and others at Holy Childhood High School, where she spent her teen years.

Articulate and well rounded

In spite of the challenges of her parents' low income, Mellissa is as articulate and well rounded as any daughter from a Beverly Hills or Norbrook family.

Her coaches and teacher, she says, are her angels, who have guided her into making the right moral and life choices since primary school.

"I grew up in Southside, Rae Town. Life was really rough growing in that kind of environment," Mellissa tells Outlook, adding that she saw girls her age getting pregnant with great frequency.

Now that she is close to graduating from UTech, where she has been working and sending herself to school, Mellissa is very vocal on the issue of sex, and wants young women to know that sex can wait.

With a powerful and convincing voice she says "Abstain, abstain, abstain," preaching the same lesson taught to her by her parents and her basketball coaches.

Coach Keith Gardener, Mellissa Farquharson states, was the first individual to put the fear of God into her.

"He frightened me. He said that he had attempted to help one other young girl with potential, but she had gotten pregnant. He said that he would be helping me, but if I followed the same road he would never help another female from Southside again.

"He said he saw something in me and that I was a very interesting individual. He said he thought I could go far."

Fear of God

Mellissa notes that her mother had already spoken to her about sex and boyfriends but, "Coach Gardener really put the fear of God in me. I did not want to be the reason for another child not getting opportunities in life."

Her Multicare coaches, she says, played good cop/bad cop, and while they set tough standards on the basketball court, they would visit her home in Rae Town to chat with her parents, ask them if they needed anything and tell them how well their daughter was doing.

"Howard McCarty was another sports coordinator who I met at age 13. He was the rough guy who would rough you up and then would pass by my house to see if everything was all right. He told my parents that whatever I and my brother needed, he would be there for us."

Mellissa also introduced her younger brother, Osmond Jr, to the Multicare programme, where he fell in love with basketball.

The female student entered Multicare while still at Holy Childhood and was able to receive financial assistance through the programme.

At age 15, she became a counsellor, helping to develop other teens "morally, and teaching them the sports of volleyball, basketball, hockey, netball and track and field."

Before this, supporting the family was the heavy burden borne by Carrol Cooks-Farquharson, who worked as an office attendant before securing a job with the postal services. She would walk great distances on errands set by her employers in order to save the fare for her children's needs.

She would also wake early each morning to prepare popcorn and packages of sweets, which her children would sell during break time at school to get income for lunch and fare.

Mellissa's father was a construction steelworker who was often out of work for six months at a time.

Through Multicare, the siblings were able to attend high school and university, without the full burden of financial stress, although Mellissa has had to work to meet some of her needs. She has completed four years at UTech and should graduate with her degree on resitting a course, which she failed in third year.

A dark period in her life occurred when one of her favourite coaches, Delroy Grant, from Holy Childhood High School, suddenly died in 1992, just after she made the national Under-17 team at age 15.

"He and I and my brother were very, very close. If he was at the stadium I would be there with him. After he passed it really had an effect on me.

"I just loved the game (basketball) and he would talk to us, counsel us and help us to remain focused on our goals."

With the help of her other mentors, the student was able to stay in the game.

She says that it was coach Donald Jackson of the Rae Town Raptors and UTech who helped her to matriculate for UTech.

Pitfalls avoided

Mellissa is today very optimistic about life and has successfully avoided the many pitfalls of community life.

She says "I have to make my coach proud, myself proud and everybody who has worked hard to make me into what I am."

Interested in manufacturing "in any form", Mellissa is hopeful that "in the next couple of years I want to be completing my master's. I have to do it while my brain is fresh. I am hoping to go on an internship and, hopefully, the company involved will pay for the programme in return for years of service."

The tomboy who says she accompanied her father to many building sites and loves the whole idea of building - "from cars to cans" - believes that her dream of having a family and two sets of twins can wait until she achieves all of this.

"Men come at me a lot but the first thing you have to do is to keep your goals at the forefront of your mind. Whatever choices you make today will affect your future. Even when you have to make short-term decisions, these will affect you. Boys are not running away. They will always be there.

"You have to respect your body so others can respect you. When you have an education, you can do whatever it is you want to do. My motto is, 'you can't stop me, you can only slow me down'. I also believe in the statement, 'perfect planning prevents poor performance'."

She states, "Since the day I was told this by a friend I have used it. In all areas of life you have to plan to be ahead of the game."