By Juanita Hooper
Fifteen athletes and two parents on Friday evening received awards for their outstanding work and dedication to athletics during the year of 2012 at the Police Sports Club Hall when the Police Progressive Youth Club (PPYC) held its annual awards ceremony.
The ceremony was held under the theme ‘Bridging the gap between sports and education for a brighter future’ and Games Officer Colin Boyce, in giving the feature address, said the Youth Club objective was to foster good relations and provide good activities for youths.
According to Boyce golden opportunities are available for the athletes but they must be disciplined, dedicated and must possess the desire to achieve what they need.
“The youth club can boast of its rich heritage and I trust that you the members of the club will use the opportunity to develop yourself both academically and athletically,” said the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Over the years the youth club staged not only physical activities but also educational, drama and social training for the athletes.
Boyce giving a brief history of the club said the Police Headquarters Youth Club (then called) was formed in 1994 and was placed directly under the Police Sports Secretariat. The club started with 35 members with the likes of Abidemi Charles, Marian Burnett, Andrew Smith, Euleen Josiah- Tanner and Kurt Gibbons.
Also present at the award ceremony was Aubrey Hutson, President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) who commended Boyce, the former AAG president, for his work within the association, adding that good athletes were produced during his tenure as it was evident from the recently concluded CARIFTA Games where the team won six medals.
“I would have been a fool to think that the CARIFTA team performance is sole because of the present council,” the AAG president said.
Meanwhile, Natasha Alder and Julio Sinclair copped two awards, athlete of the year and outstanding senior female and male athletes respectively at the ceremony.
Guyana’s lone local track and field Olympian, Winston George tied as outstanding senior male of the year with Sinclair.
Field event athlete, Clarence Green was the most outstanding junior male athlete while Alita Moore, who was a member of the 2013 CARIFTA team, won the most outstanding junior female award. Moore won 14 gold medals out of the seventeen events she won medals in.
Sprinter Tevin Garraway was the most outstanding youth male and Ayesha Parish was the youth female.
The most improved athlete of the 2012 season was awarded to Kevin Bayley, who showed great form in the distance arena.
Calvin Thomas, who has a slight disability, walked away with the most disciplined athlete of the year.
The male and female sports personality awards were awarded to Keith Roberts and Leota Babb and Donna Ferguson.
The most supportive male and female parent awardees were John Grimes and Cheryl Solomon. Solomon’s daughter Rosemund Solomon received the coaches’ special award for her determination and academics. Richard Piggott also won an award for that category.
The academics segment saw Solomon, Tisha Grimes and Carlwyn Collins winning the most outstanding primary, secondary and university student awards respectively.
