The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, will host their inaugural sport conference today at the National Cultural Centre, with Prime Minister Mark Phillips delivering the feature address at 9:00am.

The first of its kind sports conference, according to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, will see the invited sports associations and federations, brain storming, in a panel discussion, ways in which they can work together.

Award-winning sports journalists Rawle Toney (NCN/Guyana Chronicle), Akeem Green (Newsroom), Avenash Ramzan (Newsroom) and Franklin Wilson (Kaieteur News) will lead a panel discussion with the 12 invited sport disciplines.

Greene will discuss the topic of governance, nurturing talent and mind set that will involve the Guyana Cricket Board, the Athletics Association of Guyana, Squash and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Kashif Muhammad.

Toney will moderate the discussion of sponsorship, media and revenue with the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation, Guyana Hockey Board and the Guyana Volleyball Federation, along with NSC Commissioner Chateram Ramdihal.

The Guyana Football Federation, Guyana Rugby Football Union and the Guyana Lawn Tennis Association, will be joined by NSC Dillon Davidson to discuss nutrition, injuries and psychology with Ramzan as their moderator.

A discussion on tournaments, elite training and international competition will be moderated by Wilson, which will see the involvement of Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, the Guyana Table Tennis Association, the Guyana Badminton Association and the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association.

With the Ministry’s Sports Academy coming on stream some time in November, the sports conference will also present an opportunity for information to be extracted from the local sports bodies on how the sports academy will function.

“Some sports associations are better in their administration than others, some have been able to employ techniques that are better in their outcome,” Minister Ramson told Chronicle Sport.

According to Minister Ramson, “it’s very important for me, having had that monthly engagement (with associations) but then, it’s great for them to speak to me, but they weren’t speaking to each other and that sport conference allows for them to do that.”

Minister Ramson said this year’s sports Academy will be the first of many to come under the PPP/C Government, in their drive to develop sport in Guyana.