… Training to resume shortly

EARLIER this week, Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) president Dwayne Scott met with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr and they were able to exchange details on what his plans are for the sport, and what GASA desires for swimming.
Scott disclosed that they have discussed working to have Olympic athletes able to get back into training along with other athletes who are looking to take part in events this year. There were a few other aspects GASA touched on with the minister which were of equal importance.
The recently appointed GASA boss said, “The minister indicated that he will work and provide us with a solution for that and he promised that before the end of the week we should have access to the pool (Aquatic Centre) for the athletes to train

Scott assured that he will take the responsibility of working that out with the COVID-19 Task Force and the Ministry of Health.
“They asked us to provide him with a list of details and names of the athletes and actions we will take to protect the athletes. That information has been provided to him and he will send a letter to us giving approval, with the names of the athletes who will be able to use the facility.”
“Additionally, Minister Ramson, along with his team is working on some improvements at both the Aquatic Centre and Colgrain, and he’s subsequently working to allow us access again to Castellani Pool.

“Colgrain should be up and running before the end of the month. He specifically wanted us to use Colgrain for our Clinic Programme, which is for young swimmers’ development, and he had indicated that maybe by the end of March, we should have access to Castellani Pool.
“Both facilities will undergo some level of rehabilitation, which is good for swimming because now it will allow us access to more facilities within Georgetown. We’ve also discussed with the Minister the possibility of expanding swimming activities outside of the Georgetown region or boundaries.
“We’ve looked at the possibilities for Region Three, we’ve discussed the possibility of revisiting the pool facility at Uitvlugt Estate. We’ve discussed the Linden facility and we discussed the Berbice facility,”,Scott continued.

“Minister Ramson gave us assurances that he will work to have a facility available in Region Three, and he will also take a look at the Uitvlugt facility to see what can be done, so that we can have access, perhaps, after the passing of the next budget.
“For the Linden situation, we are supposed to be working to get a dedicated time slot for the Linden athletes to use a facility. This will have to go through NICIL because it is under their management. The minister will take the lead in that with our support in ensuring that athletes have access to the facilities that they can train. Of course, some of these will happen after the COVID restrictions,” Scott said.,

More importantly, the minister indicated that there is a plan to put a new pool in Linden that would only be used for competitive swimming. Scott indicated that these plans will be unveiled by the minister at some point, based on what is available and how the plans unravel.
“Obviously, it should be launched at some point in time, along the same lines with the synthetic track that has been developed at Linden; again, the location and the details on that will be provided to you by the minister.
“For the athletes who are involved in Olympic preparation, the minister indicated that he is also willing to assist us with some financials, to take them through this developmental phase. We need to put together a budget, and approach the minister and he will advise us on what can be made available.”

“This is notwithstanding the fact that all these athletes currently do have some form of support from the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA). It will not be duplication, but it will be an addition because some expenses have gone up, due to COVID and different circumstances
“So, this is what was discussed. We are extremely grateful for whatever opportunities are provided through this discussion, and whatever initiatives can be fostered and developed and realised through these engagements. I think it’s a commendable job being done by the minister in trying to meet with the associations, on a monthly basis just to get updates, and to work through situations and work through things.”