President of the Guyana Baseball League Incorporated (GBL) Robin Singh said that 2014 will see a new benchmark being set in order to create a stronger fraternity that will provide opportunities for players to compete outside of Guyana.
Singh told Stabroek Sports recently that efforts are currently in place to make Guyana more diverse in the American originated sport which is one of the highest paid and the most popular sport in the world.
Aims of turning Demerara into a stronghold for baseball is one of the key aims of Singh who pointed
out that the ancient county of Berbice has already solidified its reputation as a productive and growing district and the expectations are that Demerara will be fluent and productive in the days to come.
Trials for a possible national baseball side are expected to be held in September of 2014 as Singh hinted that apart from the association’s endeavour to spread the sport and churn out representatives for the country who can go overseas and make greater strides, another critical aim is that of education.
A baseball outreach programme is set to touch the interior areas of Guyana which will be further used to spread the sport to all parts of the country with hopes of forming teams to do possible inter-district competitions in the future.
Singh explained that the season will commence next month and the association has spent a whopping 1.2 million in order to construct and develop their Turkeyen located ground which was under massive works during 2013.
The season is set to hit off with tournaments for the Under-15, 17 and 19 groups and upon conclusion of the various competitions players who did well from across the three categories will be randomly placed in a pool and selected to represent Guyana in the Pony League Championship tournament to be held in July in Puerto Rico.
Singh also explained that a university scholarship for one male or female player is currently available for whoever excels in all departments regarding the sport.
Baseball will also make its debut on the scholastic curriculum for this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) with the first batch of students making the inaugural sitting this year.
From a coaching perspective Singh highlighted that the various coaches who undertook the coaching certification examination online, continue to qualify and teach themselves in the widely stretched realm of baseball.
He added that the relationship between the players and coaches is a “two side learning experience” and is happy that it has been positive thus far.
Another critical area sighted by the GBL is a possible school programme which entails students partaking in the sports as an extracurricular activity that will be placed on the school’s physical education roster.
He further urged parents to bring out their kids to be a part of the development of baseball assuring them that the procedure is simple and free and players will be assigned to a team while bats, balls, helmets and other forms of protective gears will be donated free of cost.
