Samara Darrell & David Blankendal Earn Awards

October 15, 2021

The Bermuda Football Association announced that David Blankendal is the recipient of the Kenneth “Smokey” Thompson Sponsorship Award, while the recipient of the Lesley Cherry White Award is Samara Darrell.

Kenneth “Smokey” Thompson Sponsorship Award

A spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Football Association [BFA] is proud to announce the recipient of the Kenneth “Smokey” Thompson Sponsorship Award. In 2017, the BFA partnered with Partner Re to create the award that honors his legacy and his infectious passion for football by giving back to the community.

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“This award is presented to a national academy player chosen by the coaches and enables the player to elite training to aid their football development. The recipient of the Kenneth “Smokey” Thompson Sponsorship Award is David Blankendal of [WSSC] Dandy Town.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank Partner Re for their continued support through this award,” said Technical Director Maurice Lowe. “It helps us to create positive ripples in our environment. We would also like to congratulate David as this year’s recipient.”

Lesley Cherry White Award

“The Bermuda Football Association [BFA] is proud to announce the recipient of the Lesley Cherry White Award. BFA Legend, Lesley Cherry White announced the award in 2019 to be able to send a female National Academy player overseas for elite level training.

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“The recipient of the Lesley Cherry White Award is Samara Darrell of Bascome Football Leadership Academy [BFLA]. Samara recently travelled with the Bermuda Women’s U20 to participate in the Concacaf Women’s U20 Championship Qualifiers in Curacao, in which Bermuda won both qualifiers with a 5-0 and 4-0 win to top their group.”

“Lesley Cherry White continues her personal commitment to our young ladies through this award in her name,” said BFA President Mark Wade. “The opportunity to train at a higher level. Adding to her experience of football outside of Bermuda will also be invaluable for Samara.”

Lesley Cherry White said, “Samara possesses all of these attributes. According to Coach Naquita Robinson “she is a player who is committed, coachable, and a student of the game. She is a fast learner and is fearless.”

Coach Robinson said, “Samara plays very similar to the way I played as a center-back. I was fortunate enough to help coach her when she was in middle school, as part of the West All-Star team, and she was humble, confident, and was a solid defender.”

“It is important to develop girls’ football in Bermuda, to allow us to compete on the international stage. We need to encourage girls to play at the club level. Bermuda is doing a great job of this at the moment, as more and more girls are playing these days. We have to thank all of the volunteers and coaches for helping to make this happen.”

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