The profile of Guyana’s sprinters and hurdlers is envisioned to ascend after seven local coaches successfully completed the World Athletics Coaches Education Certification System (CECS) Level 2 Sprints/Hurdles course recently in Suriname.
The coaches, Kenisha Phillips, Keisa Burnette, Nadine Trotz, Junior Cornette, Sham Johnny, Kareem Aaron and Andrew Jarvis were all presented with their Olympic Solidarity certificates of attendance at the completion of the programme.
According to President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, this augurs well for the immediate and long term future of Guyana’s track and field.
“We are planning to focus on sprints and hurdles in a major way as a group of events to get us to the top.”
Hutson continued, “To the top we mean having representatives at the Olympics and the World Championships. Therefore, this batch of coaches with the new level of training will give greater guidance and preparation to our athletes especially our elite athletes.”
Hutson then added, “It is my firm belief that Guyana has the natural talent to perform well on the world stage and now we have the second component in having the coaches with the prerequisite training to get us there. However, the other ingredient is the government and the GOA and the other stakeholders providing the right framework and system needed to implement an elite programme.”
He concluded by stating that “This is just one step and we at the administrative level have to make the right steps to get our athletes to the top.”
The official certification from World Athletics will be sent in the mail to the coaches at a later date.
