…. as Sports Management Workshop concludes

MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony yesterday implored the group of sports administrators to put their plan into action, after the faction presented four plans for furthering Guyana’s sporting development at the closing ceremony of the MYCS-sponsored National Sports Management Workshop, which was held at the National Resource Center on Woolford Avenue. 

Presenting before an audience that also included Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, Director of Sport Neil Kumar and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, the 42 sporting officials were divided into four groups each tasked with designing a plan for a specific sport area; namely Participation in Sports post-High School, Building a Sports Culture in Guyana, One Day Single Sport Event and Multi Sport Event’.
Presentations were so impressive that they stirred the Minister to beseech the groups to move their plans to the implementation stage, noting that he was looking forward to seeing these plans come to fruition.
“A lot of people who have ideas are afraid to implement them; they are afraid to put them into action. So I would like to see that you get yourself as a collective … and get it done. You have the plans already, get it done; so that in a year from now we can add another event to our sports calendar. You have bonded together because of the ideas that you have generated. The challenge is for you to get together and actualise them. Too many times we speak and nobody articulates it anywhere else.” Anthony said in his address yesterday afternoon.
Those who participated in the three-day programme which began last Wednesday, were presented with participation certificates, handed out by the Prime Minister.
A special prize for best presentation was given to the second group that presented under the heading ‘Building a Sports Culture in Guyana’, which included sport administrator Nicholas Fraser and Guyana Tennis Association (GTA) president, Grace McCalmon.
The sporting administrators were given the plans to design at the end of the workshop which was facilitated by Jamaican Olympian Grace Jackson and four-time Olympic medallist Ato Boldon.
The design planning followed day two of the seminars at which the administrators were given vital insight into how to go about developing and sustaining a sports culture in Guyana.
Anthony noted his particular admiration for the plan that designed the hosting for a multisport event, as well as touching on the area of sport integration in schools. The Minister particularly touched on the area of athletics in schools, noting the need for a shift of the national schools competition to better align with junior competitions held across the region.
The Minister expressed his overall pleasure with the result of the workshop noting that it could very well be just one of many training tools to come.
“We’re happy about the outcome. Grace (Jackson) and her team did an excellent job, and we want this partnership to continue. We’ll be working out some future workshops like this one. This is a collaborative effort and we want to continue such engagement. ” Anthony said.
A sentiment that was later reverberated by Jackson, who noted that she was very enthusiastic about being a part of helping to build Guyana’s sporting culture in the future as developments progressed.
For his part, the Prime Minister during his address commended the MYCS for the hosting of the event.
Closing remarks were also made by president of the Tourism and Hospitality Association, Kit Nascimento, and Kumar.

(Stories by Tamica Garnett)