To many it may seem an odd combination but to Tara Burrowes there is nothing unusual about her passion for table tennis and the career she may one day pursue as a funeral director.
The confident 23-year-old has already lived one of her dreams, having represented Barbados at the junior level. It is her ambition to do so again in senior competition and she has her mind set on competing in national colours at the 2016 Olympic Games.
“With the right training I can make it,” the confident and affable young lady told NATIONSPORT.
To this point representing Barbados in junior competition has been the highlight of her sporting career, but the opportunity was almost lost because of her involvement in track and field, another sport at which she has excelled.
“It was a great experience. I was so honoured to be a member of the Barbados table tennis team,” Burrowes said after making the national side as a fourth former at the Foundation Secondary School.
That initial outing took her to Puerto Rico but it was in subsequent tournaments in Guyana and at home that she put on her best performances, reaching the quarter-finals on both occasions. In Barbados she lost in the last eight to a Puerto Rican player who went on to win the tournament.
Had she allowed athletics to keep her away from a sport she started playing on a doorstep, she would have deprived herself of a number of highly enriching experiences.
Having been given early training while at the Erdiston Primary School through the National Sports Council coaching programme conducted by Arthur Forde, Burrowes concentrated on track and field during the early part of her secondary education. Her return
to the tables proved successful and she has no intention of moving away from table tennis again.
Despite her immense talent and love for sport Burrowes has always given high priority to her academic development. She completed an associate degree in biology and chemistry at the Barbados Community College before successfully pursuing a degree in management at the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies.
Her studies overseas exposed her to an area that many young people would hardly find attractive. It was born out of teasing from family members who would often refer to her as ‘miserable’.
“I thought that if I am miserable, then I can’t make dead people miserable,” she quipped.”
“I had a few internships at funeral homes and then completed studies in embalming overseas,” Burrowes explained.
