…donates sport gear and commits to restoration of Area H Ground.
MINISTER within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Steven Jacobs on Tuesday last visited the Area H Ground in Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club Bakewell Cricket Academy where he met a large group of youths and their coaches led by level three coach, Winston Smith.
The Minister was officially welcomed at the Academy by Rose Hall Town Clerk Natasha Griffith and RHTYSC Officials Hilbert Foster, Robby Kissoonlall, Jonathan Rampersaud, Eon Hooper and Clinton Pestano.
The former Guyana senior player in remarks to the attentive academy youths urged them to always be disciplined as it is the foundation to a successful future on the cricket field. The youthful government minister also spoke on the importance of education and the need to also be fit as cricket is a physically demanding sport. He advised the youths to listen to their coaches and to put into practice what they had learned from them.
Minister Jacobs, who also played in the Caribbean Premier League (CP) called on the RHTYSC youth players to follow in the footsteps of their club mates like Assad Fudadin, Kevin Sinclair,
Royston Crandon, Kelvon Anderson, Shemaine Campbelle, Shabaki Gajanabi, Sheneeta Grimmond and Erva Giddings who have all played for the West Indies at the International level. He stated that their success was based on a formula of hard work, personal discipline and dedication. After his discussion with the Academy class of 2026, Minister Jacobs, who played in the Berbice Cricket Board’s first division cricket for Tucker Park, presented a large supply of sport gear to RHTYSC Club captain Clinton Pestano.
The donation included cricket bats, batting pads, helmet, cricket balls, batting gloves, volleyball, basket balls and footballs. He also congratulated the coaches for their dedication
to improving the cricketing skills of the youths at the Academy and urged them to continue doing so in the future.
The Minister also paid a visit around the Area H Ground accompanied by club officials and the Town Clerk. The Minister immediately agreed that the Ministry of Sports would assist with repairs to the fencing around the venue, upgrading of the outfield and also to seek a roller for the ground that has produced 133 players for Berbice, 76 national players and thirteen at the international level. Minister Jacobs also promised that a regional engineer would visit the venue for assessment work on the way forward.
RHTYSC Cricket Manager Robby Kissoonlall expressed gratitude to Minister Jacobs for his visit and for the support offered.
The management of the club also handed over several copies of the RHTYSC Youth Review booklet which was recently launched.
