THE encampment and collective training of Guyana’s 12-man athletics team to the Flow CARIFTA Games is set to begin from this Friday and run up to April 10, as the team finalise preparations for the international meet in Curacao.
The athletes will be housed at the National Gymnasium and are expected to benefit from the expertise of several of Guyana’s top coaches,including Johnny Gravesande and Moses Pantlitz,who will be travelling alongside the team for the April 15 – 18 meet.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport,Gravesande explained that apart from breeding a sense of togetherness with the team, the encampment is also to provide a chance for the athletes from other clubs to familiarise themselves with the travelling coaches.
“We want to get the athletes together working as one, for the athletes who wouldn’t have their coaches there [in Curacao],we want to get them to respect us as coaches, and for us to all respect each other and work as one,” Gravesande said.
During the encampment the athletes will be training at the National Track and Field Centre, in Leonora from 8.00hrs – 14.00hrsdaily.
Athletes from across four different clubs make up this year’s CARIFTA team. Just over 40% of the team’s athletes are from Linden.Studying in the U.S. Natricia Hooper is the only overseas based athlete on the team; the remainder of athletes are from Georgetown clubs.
Head coach for the Upper Demerara Schools Track Club,Mr Gravesande has two athletes on this year’s team: jumper Chantoba Bright and sprinter Daniel Williams.
Pantlitz has four athletes from his Christianburg Wismar Secondary School Clubs. His athletes are Compton Caesar, Tremaine Brown and Onasha Rogers. The other athletes are Kenisha Phillips, Anfernee Headecker and Tarique Boyle from the Guyana Defence Force club,and Claudrice McKoy, Samuel Lynch and Matthew McKenzie from the Running Braves Athletics Club. The team is set to depart Guyana on April 13 and return on April 20.