IN what has been declared a milestone in the development of sports in Guyana, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony, yesterday officially opened the country’s first National Sports Resource Centre, located in the compound of the National Racquet Centre, Woolford Avenue. 

Aimed at putting higher emphasis on sports education and training in Guyana, the building is equipped with a library, conference room, a canteen, and bedroom facilities.
“For quite some time when we think about sports in Guyana we often think about what we do on the field or the court and we pay very little time to the educational side of sports, but there is an educational component to sport and we want people to understand that.
“So we took a very conscious decision that if we are going to develop sports in our country we have to break away from traditional practices and start training people in the right way.” Dr Anthony stated yesterday afternoon at the facility’s opening ceremony.
Speaking to a sizeable crowd that included stakeholders from several of Guyana’s sport disciplines, Anthony pointed out that for far too long sports in Guyana has been behind in sports development because of the lack of an institution that focused on the development of sports personnel in Guyana. This facility, which shares the same compound with squash and tennis courts, is expected to change the face of sports development in the coming years.
“What we want to do here really is a lot of training in different areas and in a lot of cases to things that we were never exposed to. We see a lot of hope and promise in this institution and we feel that if people come here and utilise the resources that we have we will start shaping a different type of environment for the development of sport in Guyana,.” Anthony proclaimed.
The Ministry has a lot of expectations for the facility which, according to Anthony, is expected to someday soon bud into a full blown sports institution where year round full-time training courses can be offered to sports stakeholders.
“From here our intention is that in a couple of years we will move from being just a resource centre to one where we can become like a sports institute, not necessarily housed here (at the Racquet Centre), because I am anticipating that in a couple years time we would have outgrown the capacity that we have here. The dream, the aspiration is to work towards getting towards a sports institute … so this facility is a stepping-stone in that direction.” Anthony declared.
Regarded as the beginning of many things to come, the opening of the facility is expected to be followed by the development of such things as a coaching council, an anti-doping officer and much more.
The opening ceremony also saw remarks from the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Conrad Plummer, and the Director of Sport Neil Kumar who declared that this facility marks the commencement of a “new era” in sports development in Guyana.
“A new era has begun; the stage has been set for Guyana’s athletes, coaches and officials. The development of sports in Guyana needed a national sports resource centre,” Kumar said.
Following the opening ceremony patrons were allowed to peruse the facilities of the building, and were later treated to a sporting lecture by Professor Clem Seecharran.