-‘More needs to be done in schools, communities’

President David Granger is the latest champion of sport organisation and development,at the grass root level. The president, speaking on his weekly program ‘public interest’ and against the backdrop of the ongoing Olympic Games in Brazil, called for more to be done at the basic levels of society if the country is to develop its sporting talent.“We did our best to prepare the athletes who are now in Rio for the games but it should be a lesson, a learning initiative that we have to do a lot more to organize sport at the level of school and at the level of villages, the level of communities, the level of regions,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the Olympics is not a matter of hope, it’s a matter of preparation,” the Head of state continued.
The president added “Quite recently, I was in Kamarang to witness the Upper- Mazaruni district games and you can see the talent; but Guyana has to put infrastructure in place to make sure our young people get the best preparation.”
The Ministry of Education (MoE) Department of Sport (DoS) just recently donated a quantity of lights to Kamarang in an effort to foster development there. The donation came just in time for the Upper- Mazaruni games, with the finals being played under lights.
Speaking directly to Guyana’s team at the current games, the president said, “ My best wishes go out to the team.”
“But at the same time, we have to ensure that the infrastructure is in place for our athletes, our swimmers, our footballers, so when they go to international competitions they could be assured, so we could remove the guess work and have bronze, silver and gold,” Brigadier Granger posited.
Meanwhile, persons are being urged to utilise funding available for the development of sport venues and grounds under the Department of Culture’s Community development fund.
The funds can be accessed by communities who are desirous of developing their grounds and infrastructure and this can be done through the Ministry of Education Department of Sport.