The commendable debut performance of three of the players of the Guyana Squash Association’s (GSA) afterschool squash programme during the Toucan Industries Kool Aid Junior Skill Level tournament may have catalysed the further development of those players.
President of the GSA David Fernandes told Stabroek Sport that the he was quite impressed with the performances of the players who competed in the recent tournament. Fernandes said that after watching some of the players compete at the National Racquet Centre’s afterschool programme, the association extended an invitation to the top four players to compete in one of the association’s premier tournaments.
The players that were invited were Neil Ramnauth, Michael Ramroop, Jael Gaskin and Dennis Gomes.
Ramnauth did not compete.
Of the three who competed, Gaskin placed second in Category E while Ramroop placed third in Category D. Fernandes said that he felt that the players were able to handle the pressure of their first tournament quite well, adding that he was particularly impressed with the play of Ramroop in category D.
Coach of the afterschool programme Carl Ince described the performances of the three lads in their first tournament as brilliant and beyond his expectations.
The four-time and current National Sports Commissions’ coach of the year said that even though his charges had been preparing for their first competition, their resilience and determination under the pressure of tournament situations were unbelievable.
“We had little tournaments where they would play amongst themselves but even with that practise I didn’t think that they would do so well,” Ince said.
The Level Four Elite squash coach who has been coaching the lads once a week for close to a year, said that what he saw from the players was very encouraging and he is definitely motivated to take the programme a step forward. Now that they have already been introduced to the game, and handled the pressure of playing in a competitive tournament, Ince said that the players need to graduate to the next level of training.
Ince explained that the next step for the players to improve would be individual, one-on-one training, and while that may not be possible during the afterschool programme, he is motivated to take on the responsibility of ensuring that the players continue to improve.
“I’m not quite sure how we can get it done, but this is definitely a project that I am encouraged to take on and perhaps with the help of other stakeholders we can make it possible,” Ince added.
The afterschool programme is currently staged at the National Racquet Centre every Friday afternoons from 15:30 to 17:30. Apart from Ince, a few national junior players, many of whom were certified as Level I and II coaches by Ince, assist at the afterschool programme.
