– no flights out, poor support leave 20 CUT games hopefuls disappointed at last minute
By Kiev Chesney
Yesterday afternoon 20 athletes decked out in their Guyana track suits posed for a Stabroek Sport picture depicting the team to represent Guyana at the 2008 Caribbean Union of Teacher’s (CUT) Championships in Tortola, British Virgin Islands (BVI).
Little did they know that less than an hour later they would find out that the only place where they would probably get the chance to wear those track suits would be at a local competition.
The athletes were informed yesterday evening by officials of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) that, despite the hard work and persistent fund-raising efforts, they would be unable to participate in this year’s CUT track and field competition because of poor financial support and no available flights out.
When it rains
it pours
GTU president Colwin King yesterday said that although they had worked relentlessly to ensure that the athletes benefited from exposure by attending the championships, all their efforts proved to be futile.
King told Stabroek Sport last night that his organization had booked spaces for the athletes to fly to the BVI and was informed that the cost per ticket was US$600.
He explained that after they did not secure all of the money required to confirm the bookings, the price per ticket had skyrocketed to US$1300.
However, King said this did not discourage them as they persisted and were able to fund the trip even with the hike in airfare.
But King said they received another blow when they learnt that all the flights out of Guyana were full and they could not travel even if they went on different flights.
They GTU head said that they were still optimistic and sought sponsorship from the Government of Guyana (GOG) to fund their final and very costly alternative – a chartered flight.
King said that the response received from government yesterday at crunch time was ‘not positive’ and put the final nail in the coffin.
Poor support from corporate Guyana
“We sent letters to almost every place of business in Guyana and I have to say the response that we got from corporate Guyana was poor,” said King.
“We held a boat cruise which was not really successful. We even put on a raffle and a walk-a-thon and neither of the two got any great response.”
King revealed that many parents of the athletes worked tirelessly to assist in funding the trip and although the campaigning started early, the support from the schools, the regional committees and the corporate sector was weak.
“We talk about sending our athletes to Olympics but at the end of the day we are not playing our part collectively as a country to invest in the children by giving them the experience and exposure that they deserve, he said.
Devastated bunch
Many, if not all of the parents of the athletes played an integral role in raising money for the BVI meet and some were clearly devastated when they learnt that their charges would not be attending this year’s games.
After meeting with King and other officials of the GTU late yesterday, the parents and the GTU came to a consensus that, in order to cushion the effect of the cancellation of the trip, they would take the children on a tour of Suriname instead.
However, the athletes and parents alike did not seem to be appeased by this alternative.
One parent said,“It is real nonsense on the part of both parties because they [GTU] should have done better organizing for this and I think the government should have paid more attention. We talk about letting sports help develop the country but at the end of the day, they don’t pay certain sports any mind.”
Another parent said:“The Suriname alternative is just not to let the children have any psychological effect but when you look at all the hard work that we the parents went through running around helter-skelter with donation letters while these children were training hard day in and day out, I don’t think it is enough but we will try to let the children enjoy themselves and forget about that.”
One of the athletes told Stabroek Sport:“I trained very hard after Nationals and I really wanted a chance to go out of the country and run and I was very disappointed when I heard that we were not getting to go. Everything was feeling right up to this afternoon when we tried on our uniforms and everything and I just can’t believe that we aren’t going anymore.”
The athletes that were selected were winners of their respective events in the under eight, under-11, under-13 and under-15 categories at the 2007 GTU National Schools’ Track and Field Championships.
Many of the children who were still encamped at GTU last night were comforted by a few parents who treated them to dinner at a reputable fast food restaurant.
