-Digicel lauded for coming on board
The annual National School’s, Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships will be held in November the organizers stated yesterday.
The disclosure was made at a press briefing at the Ministry of Education Head Office, 21 Brickdam which was attended by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand. It will Manickchand’s first taste of the event since she became Minister of Education.
“I’m happy to be here for the launching as the ministry recognizes sport activities to be useful in the conduct of lives of our people as it promotes self confidence and talent. A lot has been done and much more can be done to ensure the run off of a smooth sports. It is a collective effort without it affecting academics and without one taking over the other. The 52nd edition of the event will be held from November 19-23 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence for the third straight year.
“I’m happy that the various sponsors have come onboard and I urge more to come on board because your money will be well spent and not wasted as it will be to the benefit of Guyana,” Manickchand told the media representatives at the launching.
President of the Guyana teacher’s Union (GTU) Colin Bynoe, who is also involved in the planning of the event, said he believes that the Schools’ Championships could be the future of sports in Guyana.
“I’m happy to be here at the launching especially since we have been doing this for a long time. The Ministry has been plugging a lot of money into this event without any major sponsors until Digicel came on in a big way four years ago. That really opened the eyes of other sponsors to support the event,” said Bynoe. He said in other countries athletes use their schools’ national championships as a catalyst to a career in track and field.
“Athletes such as Usain Bolt, Kirani James and Yohan Blake were all a part of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) Games and they have rewarded their country since that level as they were nurtured from an early stage.”
He went on:”We in Guyana have missed some opportunities in pointing our athletes in that direction especially when we won the CUT Games four years straight some time back but the school championships is the training ground for these athletes and I hope that the various associations give their full support,” Bynoe said. Stabroek Sport questioned Bynoe and the committee on measures being put in place to prevent the mishaps which happened last year and he said the following. “Well, we have various measures in place to deal with certain issues especially looking at last year because we have learnt from the past and we are taking it in stride. Things might happen that might be different to last year but we will be better equipped to deal with them this time around,” Bynoe stated.
Meanwhile with respect to the future of the event and plans for it to become similar to the schools’ nationals championships in Jamaica, Bynoe said he believes that things are being put in place as it is now a learning curve for him and the nationals management committee. “It is a job we cannot do alone. We are now taking pattern from Jamaica as sponsors are now coming on board. With Jamaica, all the sponsors come out but we must also have Physical Education in the school curriculum and not just in September so these athletes’ skills can be honed,” Bynoe opined.
Public Relations Officer of the School Nationals committee Edison Jefford said that since Digicel has been on board the process to making the championships somewhat like that of Jamaica is just a four-year old baby.
“It is only now that the championships have a management committee and it’s only for four years. We have been receiving sponsorship so its only a four-year-old baby and while we may have some teething problems things will be put in place to make it more than just ‘school sports’,” Jefford stated.
Meanwhile, Digicel’s Shonnet Moore, Giftland’s Compton Bobb under the brand of Asics and Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Alexis Langhorne under the brand of Gatorade all pledged their continued support to the growth and development of the event.
