A 3,000 km Assist

Stinger Mukiya Post Brings Sports Gear to Caribbean Youth with Pass the Ball

SportsJulian McKenzie — Published February 10, 2014 | Updated February 11, 2014 at 3:53am

Off the court, however, Post has been delivering more assists in hopes of allowing others the chance to score.

Mukiya is the co-founder of Pass the Ball, a non-profit organization that provides impoverished youth in the Caribbean with sports equipment.

Post founded the organization with his brother, Keanau, who plays basketball at the University of Missouri, and also gets help from his mother and sister.

Since last summer, Post has been collecting basketballs, soccer balls, rugby balls, and other sports gear from businesses, sports centres and schools, donating all of the equipment to Jamaica.

“As long as [they’re] in usable condition, I take them,” said Post.

Growing up in Jamaica after moving from British Columbia, Post had the idea to give back to his community during his high school days in B.C.

However, Pass the Ball only went into motion last year, when Post took a year off from his studies at Bishop’s University.

“It’s a process for sure,” he said.

“Collecting the stuff, registering the charity, paperwork. I really dedicated myself to doing that and getting myself off the ground.

“I always wanted to give back somehow.”

Post had begun playing basketball at the age of seven, but was forced to stop playing when he moved to Jamaica, as his community didn’t have basketball rims to shoot at or basketballs to shoot with.

“Where I lived, we had a field and a soccer ball and that’s it,” he said. “We played barefoot.”

Post remembers childhood friends who were unable to follow their athletic dreams because of lack of equipment, whether it was for soccer, volleyball or basketball.

“They were very talented soccer players,” he said.

“They couldn’t play on the soccer team because they didn’t have soccer cleats.”

Post has already donated a batch of sports gear including balls, cleats, nets and jerseys to his primary school and a boy’s orphanage in Westmoreland, a province in Jamaica where Post was raised. He also plans on sending another shipment of equipment to Jamaica in March and one to Haiti later in the summer.

“When I was younger, if somebody brought a soccer ball it was a huge difference in the community,” said Post.

“It was a big deal.”

Post aims to eventually deliver shipments of sporting goods to other countries in the Caribbean, every three months through his initiative. He would also like to organize an association that could fund sports teams to play against each other across countries in the Caribbean.

Post is also interested in organizing free sports camps for kids, where he’d teach basketball and other sports skills.

“I think sports are a great thing in children’s lives,” he said.

“So I think it’s a great way to give back to them.”

For more information on how to donate to Pass the Ball, visit passtheball.ca.