President of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe and his administration have made their intentions clear once again about following through with the GTTA’s decision to decentralize the sport in Guyana.
After assuming the post last year following the death of former president and Police Commissioner Henry Greene, Munroe stated that it was one of the GTTA’s priorities to continue to widen the sport’s participation beyond the parameters of the capital city.
Munroe explained that in order for the sport to truly flourish nationally it needed to be played at a high level in all the regions of the country.
This past weekend, Munroe said he was pleased to report that one of the areas that the GTTA had begun pushing the development has already shown signs of promise.
Bartica, said Munroe, was now a force to be reckoned with on the local table tennis arena.
The programme is currently being spearheaded by 51-year-old veteran competitor Raynor ‘Copter’ Anderson, one of the GTTA’s certified International Table Tennis Federation’s (ITTF) Level II coaches. Anderson has worked in several out-of-town communities including Linden and Mahdia.
Anderson said that the Bartica programme saw the consistent participation of 14 junior and about six senior players. According to Anderson, the juniors were identified from the GTTA ‘Spot the talent’ programme in schools which was held close to two years ago.
Among the 14 players, Anderson says that Sheldon Atherly, Aaron Persaud, and Anil Jonas, had been consistently excelling at that level and have been invited to the GTTA’s national under 15 trials.
The players, he said, have shown a lot of promise especially Atherly, who he stated was the most promising player from Bartica at the 2012 Digicel National School Championships.
“Bartica has a far way to go. We have already recognised the pilot players there so for Easter we are going into the schools to bring out more players to add to this current crop to nurture all the players together,” Anderson said.
The sport is currently played at the Modern Hotel, thanks to the courtesy of businessman Shawn Hopkinson. According to Anderson, the programme in Bartica also received impetus from the assistance of national table tennis stars Brad and Brandon Bell. The Bell twin brothers, who emerged as top campaigners in the USA junior table tennis circuit a few years ago, recently returned to Bartica and have been actively involved in mentoring players. Anderson felt that they provide among other things, a standard of talent for the young aspiring players to aim towards.
Munroe said that the GTTA will continue to attempt to bridge the gap the between the level in Georgetown and out-of-town area such as Bartica by creative innovative ways to harness the talent. After first widening the players base, Munroe said that the GTTA will then look to implement more permanent systems and projects so that those communities can ultimately be self-sufficient and on par with the level of play in Georgetown.
