–Meet squash and hockey player Kirsten Gomes
TAKE it from 18-year-old Kirsten Gomes, everything good happens when you make a schedule and try your best to stick to it! As a young academic and sports enthusiast, she’s seen from experience how practical it is to plan her activities, instead of leaving everything to the last minute.
A member of the Guyana Junior National Squash Team, and a passionate hockey player, Kirsten has had the task of balancing her school life with sports, both of which she has excelled at, owing to her discipline.
“I’ve been playing sports for as long as I can remember, so I grew up knowing how to balance it well with other things. I think I did pretty good at balancing it, and creating a schedule that I was able to handle everything, and I wasn’t scattered and juggling everything all over the place,” she expressed in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine a few days ago.
A student at the University of Guyana, and the youngest member of the President’s Youth Advisory Council (PYAC), Kirsten agrees that she has accomplished quite a lot in her life so far, and is determined to keep pressing on to greater heights.
She started playing squash when she was just eight years old, and then represented Guyana on the junior national team since the age of 10. Recalling how it all got started, she said it was as simple as watching her friends play, and being inspired by what she saw.
“A lot of my friends started playing, and I went to visit them once and said it looked fun. We started Saturday classes, and had a nice time every time we got together. We got better and better, and I was able to train for the national team,” she shared.
She absolutely loves the sport, as she finds it interesting and fun. “I like how exciting it is; it really gets your brain involved,” she observed. This would, however, be the last year that she will play for the ‘juniors’, as she is now aging out of the category.
“At this stage in squash, I have only represented Guyana at the Caribbean level, and as it’s my last year competing as a junior. I am hopeful for the opportunity to participate in the 2022 US and Canadian Junior Squash Open in December. Thus far, I am registered and accepted, but keeping my fingers crossed as I await a response on my Canadian VISA application,” she shared.
Even as Kirsten is still at a point of figuring out who she is and where she wants to go, she feels proud of her accomplishments so far. “The Caribbean Area Squash Association Tournament (CASA); that’s the tournament I usually play in. In 2019, I won gold at the Junior CASA in the under-15 category in Trinidad, and this year, I got second in the under-19 category that was held here in Guyana. I also won the national championships in the various categories from 2015 to now,” she disclosed.
Sharing a word of advice to fellow youths who may have a rough time balancing sports and studies, Kirsten says nothing beats making a schedule, staying motivated, and sticking to it, especially if playing more than one sport. “Specifically for National athletes, a lot more time needs to be invested in training, and in some instances, prioritising is necessary.”
Kirsten feels that support from her family and coaches (Coach Carl Ince, Coach Nyron Joseph and the GSA executive body for squash and Coach Phillip Fernandes and teammates for hockey) made it easy to fit both training and studies into her schedule.
“I feel very fortunate to have had them on my side through all these years, and blessed for the monetary support from my parents, as gear and trips are very costly. Also, I am lucky that I have not experienced any tournament clashes thus far, as they are usually scheduled at different times in the year. I’m extremely grateful that I have been given the opportunity to represent Guyana in both sports, and I’m excited for the future,” she expressed, adding, “I wish to encourage all students and athletes to dream big, and shoot for the stars, as they can achieve anything they put their mind to if they work for it.”
In sports, Kirsten said it is evident that Guyana is missing out on undiscovered talents, as most opportunities are centred in Georgetown due to adequate facilities, equipment and government funding.
Therefore, she believes that as a member of the PYAC, she can assist in creating a plan that would outreach sports to different parts of the country, and implement school programmes to bring up a new generation of athletes.
