Dear Editor,
It is unfortunate that just a few weeks after Guyana and the rest of the world celebrated International Women’s Day, with much pomp and ceremony on March 8, I must pen a letter about the injustice and disrespect faced by the female volleyball fraternity in Guyana. The most recent show of disrespect occurred this past Sunday, March 20, when the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) held its first official female volleyball tournament for the year at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
As the eighth match of the day was being played, the tournament was abruptly forced to end, in an embarrassing and disrespectful state of affairs, when the players were told to leave so that a male Futsal group could use the playing area to practice. How could a male Futsal practice time take precedence over an official female volleyball tournament? What is most alarming is not just that the Futsal players bullied the women, but that they were told that the instructions to remove came from the National Sports Commission (NSC). It is uncertain how the Futsal team could have obtained permission to supersede the female volleyball tournament, given that the Guyana Volleyball Federation had prior consent to use the Sports Hall for the tournament.
Six teams participated in the one-day tournament, including teams travelling all the way from New Amsterdam, Hopetown, Berbice and St. Cuthbert’s Mission on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway; the disrespect digs deep. The humiliated young ladies had to return without their efforts being worth even the travel. Sunday’s occurrence, however, simply underscored and solidified a longstanding lack of respect for the female athletes, which has led to the continuous decline and underdevelopment of this sports discipline. The Honourable Minister of Culture Youth and Sports, Charles Ramson Jnr, at the first Guyana Sports conference held at the National Cultural Centre in 2021, acknowledged that volleyball is one of the twelve core sports disciplines in Guyana. Moreover, it was pledged that female athletes would be given special attention for development, specifically female volleyball athletes. However, Sunday’s event was not reflective of this pledge. There is a great concern about the underdevelopment and neglect that female volleyball athletes face in Guyana.
There is very little being done about the level of development and performance of female volleyball in Guyana, notwithstanding the players showing much promise. Often, the male teams are recognized and compete on a regional level, both junior and senior teams. However, the female athletes are in desperate need of a development intervention to be able to perform competitively at a minimum at the national or regional level. Globally, much emphasis is given to gender equality and equal accessibility that supports the global Sustainable Development Goals, including equal access to resources for development. Shouldn’t female volleyball athletes be included as a priority for global sports development? Where is the respect for our young women and the future of the sport that such behaviour and lack of professionalism could occur? Does female volleyball have a place in sports development in Guyana? Minister Ramson needs to intervene immediately. The Guyana Volleyball Federation also needs to answer for its role in this lack of development? Are these leaders designing sports programs that support female development? What has the Federation done for female volleyball athletes’ development for the past five years? Something needs to be done and now!
Sincerely,
(Name and address supplied)
