–On GSA President’s wish list for 2024

THE sport of Squash in Guyana enjoyed another successful year and while President of the Guyana Squash Association (GSA) David Fernandes is pleased with how things went both locally and regionally, he has more plans for the sport.
Fernandes, who sat down with Chronicle Sport recently, said that his vision for the sport is broad-based.

“Definitely more international exposure and an introduction to squash in schools. We would love to broaden access to the game and are looking at ways to get that started on portable or makeshift courts,” explained a hopeful Fernandes.

We have coaches committed to doing more work with our coaches, with support from GOA, and we are also exploring ideas to work with some teachers in schools to provide them with basic squash coaching certification.
“The GSA is looking at the possibility of this; the logistics, costs and other key factors. And how the school would implement small aspects of the game without facilities.

For the schools around GT, we will be able to introduce students to the game once the NRC courts are up and running.
The NSC is working with us on a Nursery and Academy to offer the sport to many more youngsters,” Fernandes posited.
Fernandes provided his thoughts on the size of the gap between Caribbean and International Squash.

“Well, like I said it is big, but not insurmountable. We have a Barbadian girl who is on her way up there, and at the master’s level we have Nicolette and Richard Chin already up there, but they are isolated cases and our focus now is to push into South America, into PanAm, and start exposing our players as much as we can” continued Fernandes as he looked to the future.

Fernandes was however pleased with the work of GSA during the past year and Guyana’s and Guyanese performances in 2023.
“The GSA works hard for our players but there is always room for improvement, so I can’t give the team a 10!
Seriously though, we made room for some younger members this year and are working with a blend of personalities and experiences.

We have been able to up our game in terms of getting the game of squash out there more through more modern media channels and we have made even more concerted efforts to secure funding too. We have always worked hard at fundraising and continue to do our own funding to ensure we get our players out to CASA and a few other tournaments.

We are planning for the longer term now, looking at ways to get past just the Caribbean regions. All in all, I would say we are a strong board and we have been able to support both our Junior and Senior players- as well as supporting developments in PanAm areas too.

In 2023 the GSA held the BCQS masters, Toucan Industries, Bounty Handicap, Woodpecker and Guinness Nationals (Junior and Senior) and the league.
At the International level, Guyana participated in PanAm, Junior and Senior CASA and the Canadian and US Open.

“We had an outstanding senior team in 2023, with our Vets, Men and Women’s teams making a clean sweep in CASA- that proves the depth of our team.
Ramon Chan-a- Sue who wears a few hats for us…Coach Manager and player…took it home for the VETS.

Nicolette Fernandes is untouchable in her category and also in the much younger pool while Mary Fung-a-Fat has stepped up her game too and then we have Ashley Khalil. It’s difficult not to name the whole squad!
For the men, Alex Arjoon was back on top for Nationals. He is such a solid player, so precise and patient.

For our Juniors I would say Louis DaSilva; he is our most disciplined and committed youngster right now.
Our very young players; Ethan Balkan and Zion Hickerson have also shown unbelievable skill and athleticism for their ages and they will be the ones to watch as they get older. For the junior girls, we saw Safirah Sumner and Kaylee Lowe make some great improvements this year too.” Fernanades added.

According the GCA Head, the Association’s relationship with the GOA and National Sports Commission is also strong.
“We collaborate to ensure that squash and other sports are developing in Guyana.
We hope to host a PanAm event once we have the courts finished and possibly a PSA satellite tournament soon.

I think coaching was our biggest challenge for the year. As you know Coach Carl (Ince) has taken a step back now from coaching and while we have some excellent level 2 coaches, it’s quite a gap from an elite level 4 coach.

In addition, another challenge is funding- we need to get our teams out to more international tournaments but it is so costly and our seniors have to juggle work and competition the way other countries don’t necessarily. Also, facilities, with limited courts our players don’t get the court time they would want” lamented Fernandes.

But there is a rainbow on the horizon for the hard-working and dedicated GSA President.
“Thankfully, the new courts that are being built at the National Racket Centre are well underway now so we will have access to additional courts. The courts have movable walls so we will also have doubles courts now.

We are working on getting Nyron some more support for the Junior programme and also working with the other Caribbean regions to arrange elite training opportunities for our top players” Fernandes added.
At the Junior level, I would like to see a renewal of that dedication to all-round training and be able to get them to some sports clinics. I know Coach Ince will be planning some more camps on the Highway and we always see vast improvements in our youngsters if we can get some intense workshops like that.

We definitely need more commitment from our players though and more intensity in the way they train outside of the programme. Solo work is vital to this game and that takes dedication. We have a few out for the Canadian and US open right now and that kind of exposure, consistently, would really help.

As mentioned, we are close to getting three new courts at NRC and we have supported Everest and the GDF in upgrading their courts recently so I feel we are going to be in a much better position” Fernandes informed.

“The big challenge is what we can do in the other regions of Guyana. Coach Ince has four courts on the highway, which are an amazing resource for camps and could perhaps be utilised for youths in Linden if we get our school programme moving.

Our standard is the best in the Caribbean, but once we step outside of that we struggle to get up there- we simply don’t have the exposure or the funds to develop further internationally.
One or two of our players will go far, but to get our teams up there, we need financial and resource support” continued Fernandes.

“The GOA has been the longest and best supporter in providing funding for the GSA.
They continue to help us as we look now to take things on more aggressively. Also, the National Sports Commission- The Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport- You may have heard we were recently very fortunate to have ENET come on board as our corporate sponsor too.

Then we have our trusted friends of Squash, local businesses that support us in any way they can and our own fundraisers too.
It all goes in the pot to help, but the reality is we still have to prioritise which tournaments we can send teams to instead of being able to take all of the available opportunities” the GSA boss pointed out.

One of the most important aspects of modern sports development is coaching and GSA President spoke about this.
“So, we have Coach Ince at Level 4- despite his semi-retirement, we still have him as an amazing resource and he will still have his hand in with the players.

We have two level 3 coaches. Ramon Chan-a-Sue is based overseas but he comes and runs camps sometimes. We have Garfield Wiltshire who recently obtained his level 3 and we have Samuel who is in the UK doing some work to prepare for his level three which he will take in 2024.

We have about 25 level 2 coaches, of which… maybe only about six are active. We have about 15 level 1s with 12 of those just recently finished the course in November and a few of them will be taking their level 2 early next year” concluded Fernandes.