A LOCAL group joined the rest of the world on April 6 in celebrating United Nations Day of Sport for Development and Peace (UNDSDP) by hosting a number of events.

The team, known as The Xercise,hosted an outreach programme to three schools:Queens College, St Stanislaus College and Stella Maris Primary during the morning session.
The team, accompanied by Assistant Director of Sport, Brian Smith; multiple Caribbean Squash Champion, Nicolette Fernandes and Beauty Queen, Nuriyah Gerrard, spoke to the students about the importance of sport in their personal development as well as the development of society.

According to the organisation’s editor, Natisha Mokuthnauth, “Thursday’s event was very successful. We were able to speak to three schools from which the response was very positive.”

“The children connected to Guyana’s Squash Queen, Nicholette Fernandes. There she shared her story of her struggle to balance both sports and academics in high school. The primary school children loved her the most,” she continued.

Following the morning session with the schools, there was a brief ceremony at the Demerara Cricket Club Ground where the body honoured several persons for their contribution to sport development locally.

Those honoured were Hillbert Foster (cricket), Stanely Ming (motor racing), Gordon Brathwaithe (football), Lavern Frazer (netball) and Paula Sampson (volleyball).

Following that, there was a T20 match featuring the Guyana Cricket Board taking on a Georgetown XI.

Wilfried Lemke, the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Sport for Development and Peace said, “Sport has the capacity to empower individuals and bring one’s moral values to the forefront; it can play a strategic role in transferring life skills and communicating useful, encouraging messages on important issues, thus driving social change. This new commemoration on the international calendar will further promote the value of sport as a catalyst for development and peace.”

The local arm of the initiative was sponsored by DDL, NSC, News source, Guyana cricket board, IntellectStorm and our partners, One Young World, Caribbean youth peace ambassadors network, UNICEF and UNDP.