… praises parents for continued support

CHELSEA Edghill has racked up an impressive resumé in the sport of table tennis and is currently one of Guyana’s most successful sportswomen across all disciplines.
However, the 24-year-old, who returned home last week after spending the last two years playing professionally in Portugal with Lusitania de Lourosa, opened-up about her journey from Guyana to the city of Lourosa in Santa Maria da Feira, and cited William Shakespeare’s phase from his play The Merchant of Venice: “All that glitters is not gold”.

While acknowledging the support from the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and Continental Group of Companies, Edghill pointed to her parents, Godfrey and Deidre Edghill, as her main support-base.According to Edghill, scores of letters for sponsorship, along with her portfolio, had been sent to some of the country’s biggest corporations, but she is yet to be even invited to a meeting; leaving her career over the years, to the tune of millions, to be bankrolled by her parents; something she says cannot continue.

“As I get older, I begin to understand how money works, so I would say that it’s unfair to have my parents continue to fund my career. At this point I’m no longer a junior, I’m an adult and I’m capable of earning but at the same time, I don’t represent myself, I represent Guyana,” Edghill said.
The 2018 Caribbean U-21 Champion who also holds a BSc in Chemistry, having graduated in 2019 from Lindenwood University in the USA, said there needs to be more support from the government, the association and corporate Guyana.

Edghill also believes that there should be more dialogue with the players, the table tennis association in Guyana and the major companies, with the hope that they (corporate Guyana) can truly understand the need for sponsoring athletes.

Tennis is not the same as other sports
Though playing professionally, Edghill was quick to point out the level someone needs to attain to make a meaningful income from the sport.
“Table tennis isn’t like football and basketball,” Edghill firmly said, while reasoning that “the money in those two sports are vastly different from what is in table tennis. Playing professionally in table tennis means that you’re doing it full-time and you can play for a team.”

“Yes, some players are paid for playing for teams, but those players are heavily-funded before they get there. They had the help of their government and they had the help of their sponsors and private entities,” the former Bishops’ High School student said.

She stated further, “Coming from Guyana and treading on new waters, I wasn’t heavily-funded, I’m funded by my parents and that can only go so far.
“The reason for needing this extra help is to be able to get to the level whereby these teams that are seeing you and want you will not hesitate, because then they’ll know what you’re coming with. They know that you’re very well-trained, so they will know that if they need you, they need to pay you.”

Meeting with the Minister of Sport
The multiple National award-winning player met with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr on Friday, and told reporters, “It was good to see that he’s listening and that he’s open to suggestions.

“I would say that the meeting was enlightening. To be able to share not just the plight of myself but other athletes who go through the same thing or something even worse. I think now he has a better understanding of what is happening and what needs to be done for us athletes.”

Edghill, Guyana’s highest-ranked international player, was brutally honest in her opinion that in Guyana “we don’t have the facilities to produce top athletes, we don’t have the population of table tennis players and at this time I would say that we do not have programmes in place to produce top-class players.”

She noted that table tennis players’ best shot at advancing their talent at this moment is to head overseas or have as much international exposure as possible.