HE IS only nine years old and already, the pint-sized Tyriq Saunders has begun to accumulate accolades to show for his passion, when it comes to the sport of table tennis.
Saunders, like many other youths in the village of Rasville located at the back of the western half of Roxanne Burnham Gardens, began playing the sport a mere four months ago, when the 34-year-old Melissa Dow-Richardson along with Rocky Cumberbatch started the Rasville Youth Organisation (RYO).
According to Richardson-Dow, who in her own right was a standout as a national player, following her participation in a coaching clinic held by former national champion Sydney Christophe in April of this year, an approach was made to the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) for assistance to popularise the sport in the South Georgetown Community.
“The basis of the RYO, is to produce a national player or players within the first six months of operation and with the strides being made by Saunders along with siblings Devante and Denzil Jones, I think we can achieve such in the given time-frame.
“After I completed the coaching clinic held by Sydney at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, I made an approach to the GTTA, seeking assistance in bringing the sport of table tennis to the less fortunate children of Rasville,” said Dow-Richardson.
The 34-year-old southpaw player added, “The GTTA donated a table to us about two weeks after the clinic concluded and immediately there was a rush of excitement among the younger population in Rasville, including Saunders, the two Jones and some other players.
“We held several in-house tournaments, where the players were evaluated according to their performance, as that enabled me to look at them and also pick out who needs more work to be done if they intended to progress in the sport, and definitely I must say the Saunders caught the pupil of my eye.”
A beaming Dow-Richardson said trophies for one of the in-house tournaments were donated by Trophy Stall in Bourda Market, for which she is grateful. Saunders topped the Under-9 category, while Devante and Denzil Jones were the ‘B’ and ‘A’ class champions.
Up next for the young RYO table tennis crew was the GTTA Inter-corporation championship which was staged in the Queen’s College auditorium.
Even though they did not finish among the top guns in the said tournament, the performances of the pint-size Saunders caught the attention of many who witnessed the tournament, including GTTA president and Commissioner of Police Henry Greene and General Secretary and national male champion Godfrey Munroe.
Tyriq did not stop there, as he partnered Nevaeh Clarkston in the Digicel-sponsored GTTA Inter-school tournament, where their school North Georgetown Primary came second to Mae’s in the Under-10 category, with Saunders chalking up an upset defeat over Nyron Bissu.
According to the soft-spoken Dow-Richardson, Saunders, Denzil and Devante Jones and herself will be competing in this month’s national championships scheduled to be held at either the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall or National Gymnasium, where she intends to give her young but eager students, the much needed exposure to help them progress.
“They have the talent and have on more than one occasion, displayed a hunger to learn more in the sport, even though they dabble with other sports such as football (which they play on the road) and darts.
Added to that, Cumberbatch and I used teaching aids to assist the youths in the community with their academics and with Saunders being a standout in this field as well, I think our objective in the RYO, which is to “Sustain Youth Development in Rasville”, will be met.”
However, there is much more that she intends to do, but is finding it difficult to achieve without help from Corporate Guyana and even though the GTTA has assisted with the donation of one table, Dow-Richardson would like to have at least two more tables, so she can impart her knowledge to her charges.
With the progress being made by Saunders and the others in such a short period, not only will Dow-Richardson produce one national champion within the six months’ time-frame she gave to the GTTA, but also she can produce more. Only time will tell along with help from Corporate Guyana.