Prime Minister, Mark Phillips, yesterday said that the government understands the value sports has on a developing nation and that this administration will continue to put systems in place to enhance its overall development locally.
The Prime Minister made the comments at the inaugural Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, sports conference at the National Cultural Centre.
The conference, aimed at devising strategies and brainstorming ideas for the development of sport locally, also provided an avenue for associations to speak on various topics related to the growth of sport.
Some of the topics included Governance, Nurturing Talent, Mindset, Revenue, Sponsorship, Media, Nutrition, Injuries, Psychology, Tournaments, Elite Training and International Competition.
It also provided a platform for the subject minister, Charles Ramson Jr., who declared the event “tremendously successful” to make his powerpoint presentation on the sports academy set to be launched later this year.
Prior to the start of the discussions, Prime Minister Phillips said that the government has held as “a main priority” the creation of more opportunities for Culture, Youth and Sport activities because of the critical role that these assets play in overall development.
He noted that it would however, take a collaborative effort of all stakeholders to ensure not only the success of programmes and strategies, but the overall development of athletes.
“The approach of building a relationship or partnership with sports associations and federations is the only assured way to achieve sustainable national success in sport. Sport has a friend in my government,” he declared.
Ramson Jr., explained that one of the main objectives of the conference which would be an annual event, is to be an informational and consultative process for the sports academy, which will be launched early November.
In his presentation on the academy, which is not a physical structure, he explained that the academy is a programme focused on talent development of the 12 core sports which has three pillars, a nursery, a tournament and elite training.
The academy’s programmes would work on increasing inter-association collaboration, athletes’ development and improving systems pertaining to sport administration and governance.
Following Ramson Jr’s presentation, there were several panel discussions, each lasting about 45 minutes, with representatives from the core disciplines, athletics, cricket, squash, basketball, hockey, volleyball, football, rugby, tennis, table tennis, badminton and swimming.
The moderators were sport journalists Akeem Greene and Avenash Ramzan (News Room), Rawle Toney (NCN/Guyana Chronicle) and Franklin Wilson (Kaieteur News).
