… Lloyd, Hafeez and Ramdin also contribute

GUYANA’S 2014 West Indies Cricket Board Regional four-day captain, Leon Johnson, yesterday afternoon told his audience at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Captaincy Seminar held at the National Resource Centre, that the task is a challenging one to handle.

Present at the function, which saw over 150 captains and aspiring captains from across Guyana of both genders, were Dr. Frank Anthony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar who chaired the proceedings and gave the welcome remarks, Permanent Secretary Alfred King and Guyana’s cricket legend Clive Lloyd, who received a standing ovation and round of applause on entrance.
“My apologies for following up on anything that Denesh and Hafeez would have said but while I think there are a lot of words that can be used to describe captaincy, one of the words which I wish to leave with you here today is Challenging.
“It is a very challenging task. Denesh said to you earlier that he was not fortunate to have such exercises being done when he was a young cricketer, but I think for me growing up as a youngster, I was very fortunate,” said Johnson who is known to be a very fluent spokesman.
He added, “The club I played with, namely Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) had seven national players in their first division team at the time so coming up I learnt a lot of things from them which aid in my captaincy of the Guyana Under-19 team.
Even though I did not get the senior team captaincy until this year, my lessons learnt over the years have helped me. But I do wish to say that it is a very challenging task, as you need a strong character to lead a team since you are dealing with 15 persons with different characters and you must have a strong character in order to come through for them.”
Prior to Johnson giving his remarks, Ramdin, who was recently appointed captain of the West Indies Test team, said a good captain must have the passion to drive and lead the team from the front, adding that it is a plus for the captain to know his players, as only then he can get the best out of them.
“I must say how pleasurable it is for me to be here today and share my knowledge on captaincy with you. You are all an esteemed group, for when I was a young player, I did not have this opportunity so I am sure that whatever you learn would take you through your career as you go, whether you are a captain or just a player,” said Ramdin.
He added, “As a captain, you must have the passion and drive to lead the team, knowing your players as well, so that when you go out to fight you have them backing you, even as you urge them to give you of their best at all times.”
He told his audience, some of whom are students and can be seen in their uniforms, that education is very important, as it also helps in the manner they conduct themselves on and off the field of play, even as he challenged them to take things one step at a time.
“You need to take things one step at a time and don’t look too far ahead, and before I go I wish to leave a quote with you as well: ‘Opportunities are like heart beats, you cannot afford to miss one’ ” said Ramdin.
Hafeez was brief.
“As a leader, you have to be a good human being, for if you are not a good human being, you cannot be a good leader. You also need to think positively and not negatively at all times.”
He said that while an individual can go to www.google.com and learn how to be a good leader from various experts on the topic, he believes that Lloyd is the better person to talk with on leadership, since he has led the West Indies team at a time when they needed it.
Hafeez reminded the audience that if they are not thinking positively, then all they would have learnt on the topic = leadership – would be in vain. He wished them all the best in their future endeavours in their respective sport.

(By Calvin Roberts)