Participants of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA)/ Olympic Solidarity annual sports administrator’s course for the year 2010 received their certificates of completion at the course’s conclusion at the Olympic House on Sunday.
Sixteen participants from various sporting disciplines and sports associations across Guyana became certified sports administrators on the final day of the four-day course on Sunday and were officially certified at the closing ceremony that followed.
A number of high ranking sports officials attended the closing ceremony, including Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony, Vice President of the GOA, Noel Adonis and course directors Claude Blackmore and Garfield Wiltshire, among others.
Blackmore, who delivered the overview of the course yesterday told Stabroek Sport “I am hoping that they go back to their respective organizations and act as the catalyst for change within the organizations and further development of the sport in terms of administration and the way it functions” said Blackmore.
Further, Blackmore stated that he was pleased that the course saw a 100% pass rate following the final exam that was written on the final day. Of the 17 participants that started the course, 16 went on to write the exam, since one dropped out, and all 16 passed. They are now officially certified as sports administrators under the International Olympic Committee.
Blackmore added that the course helps to identify “sore points” in the governance of national sports associations through their federations.
However, he noted that this can be rectified since “the participants now have better knowledge” of how associations and federations should be governed.
“They [the participants] can go back and be the change agent for the betterment and upliftment of their particular sport” Blackmore concluded.
