By Iva Wharton
The Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF) will focus its energies towards the development of other sporting disciplines this year says its President, Colin Baker.
Baker, in an interview with Stabroek Sport, said that more will be done to develop cycling, track and field and lawn tennis.
According to Baker, those disciplines are not new to the GSDF but were placed on the back burner for a while.
The GSDF’s activities centre mainly on football and it has been unable to achieve some of the accomplishments in the other disciplines as it has with football.
But though the GSDF would like to branch out into other disciplines, Baker said that involvement would depend on the availability of finance.
“We are a non-profit organization and the monies we raise are from donations or fund-raising activities and what we have been able to accumulate, can only go so far,” he told this newspaper.
Baker added that the GSDF has had difficulty arriving at beneficial agreements to assist with those disciplines.
“However in the next two months we will be getting more involved in these disciplines which lost out for the sake of football over the years,” he declared.
The group, he said, is having talks with a potential sponsor to assist with the launching of a cycle meet in the mining town of Linden. That programme, he said, is just the start as cyclists will be exposed to training.
Baker said that persons will be identified and trained as coaches to further develop the sport. There is also a move to provide cycles and spare parts whenever the need arises.
“Having said that, it’s not going to be that we bring it and give it, because we first have to identify how we will get it and the need for it. It’s not going to be a free for all,” was his caustic comment.
Asked to comment on the controversy surrounding football and its impact, Baker said that as President of the GSDF, he will not be able to comment on the issue because it was against their charter as a non-government organization.
He said the organization could lose its non-profit status as a result.
“Having said that, I don’t know that I am interested in getting involved in the politics.
“However, based on the whole situation, the Golden Jaguars have gone to a level they have never gone before and we need everyone to be together in chartering how we move forward. And I would think that it would be good for the bodies involved the GFF and the GFA to sit down and dig deep down within themselves to see what is good for the game and make decisions based on that,” he said.
According to Baker, personal feelings should be thrown aside in order to reach a consensus on the way forward.
Baker said that the foundation has been in existence for the past six years was now looking at ways to expand its reach into other sporting disciplines.
