By Stephan Sookram

WITH the growing scourge of suicide plaguing Guyana, one administrator is of the view that sport, and being involved in it, can help to curb and reduce the frequency in which these incidents occur.President of the Guyana Baseball League (GBL) Robin Singh is of the view that most sportsmen and women are less inclined to pursue this route when dealing with issues, providing evidence from his own sport.
According to the GBL boss, “From the baseball end, we’ve had over 40 coaches report back and there has only been about three incidences where coaches have said they had to counsel somebody who was thinking of it. Most sport people don’t.”
“We’ve suggested to the Guyana Olympics Association (GOA) to do a survey of all coaches and administrators in sport and try to find out how many athletes over the years have attempted suicide; how many have needed counselling and that survey is underway,” contended Singh.
The aim, the GBL president says, is to show people that the incidence of suicide among sportsmen and women is so much lower than the regular population and that sport has to be a factor in a better life.
While this may be common knowledge to sport administrators, Singh is adamant about hard evidence saying, “We can all say we don’t know of any suicide of any athlete of x amount of years but let’s put it down as evidence, and let’s show parents; ‘you’ve got a choice to make with your kids’ future; you either play sport or they are going to have a miserable life’.”
He noted that once this is completed, the GOA will be looking to submit its findings to a Non-Governmental Organisation as well as policyholders to further pursue the said findings as well as to craft suitable strategies to curb the epidemic.
Singh’s comments mirror that of Canadian Football Hall-of-Famer Alex Bunbury, who was in Guyana to kick-start his ‘Alex Bunbury Sports and Academics Academy’.
Bunbury had stated: “Young people need to see people they look up to speaking up against it and trying to educate young people about not going into that direction and it’s about finding someone they can rely on to help them through the tough times.”