Most local athletes simply compete for the love of their sport since there is little to no incentives to be had.
Despite the unenviable task of putting, their blood, sweat and tears and hours and hours of training into their craft, athletes here continue to be disrespected by some of their administrators.
The latest instance is the administrators of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) which must be flogged for their constant delinquency and tardiness when it comes to completing the simplest of tasks like responding to emails.
Since April, the AAG was emailed by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to submit their list of prospective athletes for them to compete at the October 1-15 South American Games in Paraguay.
That was done only a week ago.
Why wait until the window is closed to submit a list five months after the fact?
Why choose to wait to the 11th hour to make a plea at the South American Congress last week in Brazil rather than going through the established channel in April by just submitting your list ?
These are simple questions that should be answered by the AAG, one of the most prominent associations under the umbrella of the GOA.
With less than two weeks to go before the start of the quadrennial Games, the track and field athletes are still unsure if they will be in the blocks or not.
It is simply unfair to the sportsmen and women, many of whom are at the tail end of their season and not remotely close to their peaking phase.
Is the AAG honestly expecting optimum results from athletes who are still unsure of their presence at a meet less than two weeks away? Or are they just potentially being sent to just participate and not compete for medals?
To be fair, it appears that the AAG is just trying to save face by scrambling together a team at the 11th hour for the prestigious Games.
This conundrum was dreadfully unavoidable had the AAG just submitted their long list and responded to the five reminders by the GOA.
Athletes continue to be the ones to suffer since they have to put in the work and represent the nation in their respective disciplines.
The modus operandi of the AAG and other sports administrators alike simply needs to change immediately and more respect must be given to our sports ambassadors or Guyana’s sports mediocrity will continue.
