– Sport Minister
The East Coast Cricket Board wrapped up its ninth annual cricket academy at the Chetram Singh Centre of Excellence, La Bonne Intention (LBI), yesterday with Sport Minister Dr. Frank Anthony urging participants not to be selfish.
Anthony, in his feature address, told participants of the two-week academy that if there should be development of any sport there needs to be an exchange of ideas among participants of the programme and the community.
The Sport Minister also lauded the ECCB for its effort in sustaining the academy, especially since others Boards have attempted the same thing and have fallen away over the years.
“We need this (ECCB Academy) to be emulated by other sports organisations across the country. I think this also represents what we (the ministry) are trying to do for sports and for too long people have felt that sports mean going out on the field and completely forgetting that there is a learning component to understanding a sport.
“Cricket, in terms of this academy, has been outstanding in providing that education that is necessary if we are going to be good sportsmen and women and that is why this academy is so significant. For the person that has graduated from this academy today this is just the fundamental but you must not be selfish about what you have learnt here because many times when people learn they just keep it to themselves and that is selfishness,” Dr. Anthony declared.
He observed that if the coordinators of the programme had been keeping the information to themselves the participants at the programme would not have been benefiting as they have for the past nine years. Dr. Anthony said that the best way to “preserve knowledge” is to help others by passing it on since it would not “hurt to transfer it.
“This course could not have accommodated all the people that would have liked to be here and that is why your role now must be to transfer that knowledge. That is an important role you have to play and perhaps the East Coast Board should find a mechanism of monitoring what the persons have passed through these courses would have gone back in their respective clubs, communities and helped with the promotion of the game,” the sport minister said. Dr. Anthony, reflecting on his tenure while practicing medicine, also told participants at the programme yesterday that they should also have the wherewithal to apply the theoretical principles of the course into the practical aspect so that there will be a smoother transition of information. He reminded the gathering that although many students may have known the theory they still sometimes did the wrong thing because they might have been other competing factors such as peer pressure.
Meanwhile, President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh commended the ECCB for sustaining the tradition that former ECCB president SK Singh started in 2009. Singh stated that it is “always good to see young people involved in cricket and its development.”
Singh also lauded the parents of the participants for sending them to the workshop and he gave the ECCB his blessings for a successful 2011 hosting of the programme
The coordinator and president of the ECCB in their reports said that the two-week camp was a huge success and they will continue to produce such camps.
The subject areas in the programme were History of West Indies Cricket, Coaching for cricketers, Laws of Cricket (part one), Laws of Cricket (part two), Scoring, Road Safety, Careers in cricket, Drugs and Sports, Importance of Education, Scoring (part two), Leadership and Sportsmanship, HIV and Teenage Sex, Effects of smoking, Foods and Nutrition, Social etiquette/Grooming, Formation of clubs, Discipline and Leadership and Administration.
