“WE RECOGNISE that sports is integral to the development of Guyana as a whole. Without sports, I think we will lose an integral or important part of our domestic development and that is why a lot of resources were spent in developing our sporting infrastructure.” Those were the opening remarks given by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) Dr. Frank Anthony at the opening of the newly built squash centre and refurbished tennis courts at Non Pariel, Woolford Avenue, last Friday.
Dr. Anthony, who was hailed as a champion advocate towards the development of sports in Guyana, firstly by Kumar and later by President Jagdeo, used the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, the Olympic-sized swimming pool at Liliendaal and the yet-to-be-completed synthetic athletics track at Leonora as examples for infrastructural development.
“We have expended a lot of resources in developing the National Stadium and while we were doing so, we were told that it will not be of very good use and at the same time, not being used constantly by the people of Guyana.
Today we are facing a challenge, as we are receiving numerous requests for the use of the national stadium, which has moved from being a venue that only hosted sports events such as cricket, football, rugby and athletics, to an entertainment venue,” stated Dr Anthony.
He added, “The national stadium is now seen as the mecca for cultural events in Guyana and I think the word amongst the entertainment industry is “If you don’t have your event at the Stadium, then it is not of the highest quality, as the Stadium is being regarded as the top venue for events of that nature.”
Dr  Anthony expounded to his audience how much the Government of Guyana (GoG) recognises the importance of sports and sporting infrastructure in Guyana, saying new opportunities are opened up for not only the athletes, but the spectators who throng the venue to watch their favourite athlete or team perform.
Touching on the synthetic track, Dr Anthony said at the completion of same, Guyana’s athletes will have the opportunity to compete on a world class surface and called on the athletics fraternity to organise meets of international standards which would allow our athletes to be better able to compete at the international level.
“We recognise the importance of sporting infrastructure in Guyana and that is why we have been tapping our resources into that area, among other things.”
On a sad note, Dr. Anthony highlighted the plight of the local construction companies, who are lacking the experience to build the necessary specialised infrastructure that is needed in sports today.
“One of the challenges we have here in Guyana, is the local construction companies’ inability to build the specialised structure that is needed in sporting infrastructure. What we realise is that those things are really specialised in their own unique way.
“We were talking about the company who are presently working with us on the athletics track at Leonora and what they said to us is not any foundation can be used to lay the track, but a special one which when completed and the track is laid out, it would not shift under the strain it is expected to endure from events being held there.”
He said the Government of Guyana and some of the local construction companies are working in partnership with some of the best international companies in the world, wherein at the end of the day, the local construction fraternity would have the experience and the know-how to execute certain jobs when it comes to sporting infrastructure.
“It is hoped that these three major sporting infrastructures would help transform the sporting image in Guyana, while we also have a vision when it comes to racquet sports in Guyana.
“We started out with this facility which in the past was only used for tennis, with one stand and as I mentioned earlier, the accommodation of spectators who go to venues was one of the things we looked at and that is why we have this newly built stand here also,” stated Dr Anthony.
Dr Anthony added that among other things to be constructed at the venue, the GoG would be looking to build a resource centre wherein sports association can hold conferences, training seminars and other edifying courses for their respective sport, instead of paying a high fee to host same at other venues.
Prior to Dr Anthony’s remarks, the proceedings got under way with Kumar leading his audience in the recitation of the national pledge, followed by prayers from the Muslim, Hindu and Christian communities.
In giving a review of the project, King told his audience that included national squash queen Nicolette Fernandes, former Guyana and Caribbean squash champion Garfield Wiltshire and Junior Caribbean squash champions Ashley Khalil and her brother Jason Ray, the two courts were the first and only public squash courts in the Caribbean.
He mentioned the resurfaced tennis courts and said many more projects will be built on the venue, including a clay surface for tennis.
However, the PS bemoaned the length of time taken by contractors to deliver jobs, even though at the signing ceremony of their contracts, they promised to deliver on time.
“It is a problem not only the MCYS is faced with, but other business personnel out there wherein 95% of the time, projects given out by the MCYS would not be delivered on time even though the contractors would agree to everything from the scope of work to the delivery of the job at the signing ceremony.
Having said that, I must congratulate the contractor who executed this project, as he not only stuck to the scope of work as per design, especially with the design being a simple one which made it easy for him to execute, but he delivered on time as well.”
King said the newly built squash courts was used during the hosting of the Digicel-sponsored Junior Caribbean Squash tournament and received high marks of praise not only from the competitors themselves, but also managers of the visiting teams.
Arjoon said the courts were a much needed facility for the GSA, since it would enable the Association to become stronger, while encouraging squash players and intended players of the sport to come and further hone their skills.
In his welcome remarks, Kumar said the building of a squash court resulted from a meeting between President Jagdeo and the executives of the GSA and while he thanked the President on taking the first step in ensuring the facility was the success story it became today, he applauded Dr Anthony and King for the never-say-die attitude they displayed to get the job done.
After all the remarks and the feature address from President Jagdeo, the invitees were treated to musical renditions from the Guyana Steel Orchestra and a dance item from the National Dance School.