Club launches 13th Annual Academy
SINCE its existence in 1948, cricketers of the calibre of Sew Shivnarine, Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon and Devendra Bishoo have all played for the West Indies, but with the exception of Shivnarine, the other three have done so after being a product of the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club’s  annual Cricket Academy, which was launched for the 13th year on Wednesday afternoon. Speaking at the brief launching ceremony, president of the Albion Club Lloyd Kandell said the Academy, which will run from August 8 to 20 and will cater for boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 18, was not only preparing players for the gentleman’s game of cricket, but rather producing cricketers not only for Guyana, but the West Indies at large.
“Indeed it is a privilege for me to be sitting here today, at the launching of yet another cricket academy for the Albion Club and I must say a special thank you to the organising committee of the club, who took the liberty to initiate the planning of this academy.
“Over the years, this has been a good plan by that committee of the club, as they have planted a good seed from which we are seeing the fruits of their labour today, with the emergence of Narsingh Deonarine, Sewnarine Chattergoon and Devendra Bishoo who have all played for the West Indies within the past five years,” said Kandell.
He added, “Apart from that trio, we at  the Albion Community Centre Cricket Club have also produced cricketers for Guyana at all levels, starting with Under-15 where Gudakesh Motie-Kanhai, Kandasammy Surujnarine and Harrinarine Chattergoon come to mind and ending at the senior level where Sewnarine Chattergoon, Deonarine, Bishoo, Jonathan Foo and Veerasammy Permaul played.
All these players and many more came through the Albion Academy and that tells me that the work of the Club’s Development Committee is tremendous, while at the same time it says to many people out there, we are not only preparing cricketers, but producing them as well.”
Kandell told his audience which included Sewnarine and Harrinarine Chattergoon, Foo, Bishoo and Permaul, along with the club’s secretary Muthswammi Permaul and its treasurer Orvin Mangru,  the Albion Club is there to support its players while making them well-rounded individuals in society, since they will be the ones in the spotlight.
In outlining some of the topics to be imparted to the students who are asked to report to the Albion Sports Club ground for daily sessions lasting from 08:30hrs to 1600hrs each day, Mangru said the objective of the Academy is to expose young cricketers to the basic fundamentals of the game.
“Over the two-week period, the young cricketers who attend the academy will be exposed to lectures on topics such as Motivation, Guides of Sports Leadership, Food and Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Discipline, Personal Hygiene, Laws of Cricket and Importance of Education, just to name a few.
Qualified coaches from the Berbice and Guyana Cricket Boards will be on hand on a daily basis to take the young cricketers through their basic techniques with assistance from the Club’s current national and international players,” said Mangru.
He expressed gratitude to the sponsors of the Academy, some of whom are Sterling Products Limited, Republic Bank, Demerara Distillers Limited, Geddes Grant and the Guyana Sugar Corporation, whose input will help make this year’s Academy a successful one.
“The Albion Community Centre Club is a club of excellence and we would like to assure our sponsors that this year’s Academy will be a great success, as it will be run in a highly efficient manner, at the end of which our young cricketers will be fully equipped to be a success story in their future,” stated Mangru.