By Ariana Gordon in the United States

EIGHTEEN athletes from the Fort Wellington Secondary School on the West Coast of Berbice (WCB) arrived in New York yesterday morning to participate in the annual Penn State relay competition being held this weekend.But while the teenagers and their coaches are excited about the opportunity they’ve received to participate in the Philadelphia-based competition, they are disappointed that the Government of Guyana failed to assist them in their efforts.
Instead, the team thanked Fly Jamaica Airways, an external Jamaican team, Dynamic Airways and Captain Gerry Gouveia for assisting them with tickets to travel to the U.S. and finances.
The youngsters, between the ages of 14 and 18, were spotted two years ago by Tanya Barry and her partner Mark Webster, a pair of former Guyanese athletes with interest in sport here.
According to Barry, “When we go to Penn Relays we don’t have a team to cheer on that’s Guyanese and we said we want to put together a team,” said Barry who continuously expressed gratitude to all who assisted.
Upon her return from Guyana after scouting, Barry contacted her Jamaican friend who walked her through the process of getting the youngsters ready for the relay.
“A lot of people don’t understand that when these children come here they have a lot of coaches and they may get scholarships and some of these kids have dreams that they want to become an Olympic runner; to see what it is like to compete at that level,” Barry continued.
Barry noted that the children are ambitious and have dreams of representing Guyana internationally saying, “They open a lot for educational opportunities and it lets people know that Guyana does have talent.”
The former Guyanese athlete, who took a loan for over US$5000 to assist the students, added that the lack of support on the part of the government increased the stress on the group of coaches and managers and by extension the students.
“I think what they (the government) need to understand is that at the end of the day it is about children and the future; if we do not stop to invest in our youths then where would we be? We’d be stuck in the same place.
“We’d be stagnant; whatever these kids’ dreams are let’s try to propel them. An investment in our youth means we have an investment in our future,” she continued.
Meanwhile, team manager and coach Kesia Burnette said the athletes are excited about the opportunity and despite the struggle to arrive in the U.S., they are positive about winning the races.
A smiling Burnette told reporters at the John F. Kennedy International Airport the duo was instrumental in getting the team to the U.S., adding that the initial spotting two years ago spurred the process along.
“So since then we started to work towards it. They made the times and got selected,” she said proudly.

STRUGGLES
The team’s manager said she reached out to the Ministry of Education, Department of Sport for assistance but none was forthcoming, adding, “First we took the budget to them and it was $4 point something million.”
She continued, “They said they were going to help with the visas first and after we did the application forms for the visas and the April 6 was the due date for the payment for the visas. They called us the April 5 and say they can’t help us because we received a private letter from Penn State and they say the letter was supposed to be addressed directly to the Department of Sport but it came to us from Ms Tanya.”
She described the process as a “hassle”.
“We had to hurry up and get some money to get these kids their visas, eventually when we get the visas we reached out back to them, they say when we get visas call them and we gonna start getting the airfare. When we get it, they say, we are not registered with the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG). We were so we reached out to them.”
Burnette said the group then reached out to Christopher Jones, Director of Sport and provided him with the letter confirming their membership with the AAG, and he then told them only two tickets could be purchased
She lauded Fly Jamaica and its director Roxanne Reece, saying “Fly Jamaica was very nice to us. We went to meet Mrs Reece yesterday and got on the flight today. Mrs Reece gave me her contact card and said in case we have any problem here I should call her.”
After securing help from Fly Jamaica, the team reached out to Jones who then said the two airfares promised can no longer be provided.
She explained that she has every confidence in the team as they continuously perform well adding that last Friday; the team participated in a relay festival at the Leonora synthetic track where “They won every race.”
“I am happy, really glad we could come here,,” said one of the younger members of the team.
The team is scheduled to depart the U.S. on May 5.