The Guyana Golf Association (GGA) and Nexgen Golf Academy had a tremendous start to 2023 to boost their efforts for development of Golf in Guyana with recent outreaches to Regions 6 and 8.
President of the GGA Aleem Hussain explained “We met with the Minister of Education and her team on January 12 and since then, we have visited and interacted with 19 schools and 33 PE Teachers from Region 6, 8, and 10. Equipment, balls and training was provided to all schools and the immediate result was implementation of the sport in several schools.”
Students and teachers in far flung areas such as Monkey Mountain, Paramakatoi, Kato and Ķopinang had their first experience holding a golf club and the joy on their faces was a sight to behold as they quickly became adept at hitting a golf ball.
With this latest outreach, the Ministry of Education Unit of Allied Arts and the Guyana Golf Association has now teamed up to reach 8 out of the 10 regions in just over a year, an amazing result for the development of the sport in a country where it was always viewed as an elite and expensive game, with no access for the general public who could not afford private club membership.
Another session is planned for Region 6 next week where over 300 students will receive one on one training from Nexgen Golf Academy coaches. Inter-classroom competitions will be followed by an inter-school tournament and a national tournament will be held soon afterward.
Additionally, at the recent Ministry of Sports Awards, the Guyana Golf Association was nominated for Association of the Year and Hussain was nominated for Sportsman-of-the-Year in recognition of accomplishments in 2022.
The efforts of the GGA was also noticed on the world stage as invitations for our junior golfers to participate in the American Junior Golf Association world tournament over the next 5 years were extended but according to Hussain, “at our current stage of development, we elected to defer participating until next year.”
For more information on how you can learn how to play golf, call 645-0944 or visit the conveniently located Nexgen Golf Academy on Woolford Avenue in Georgetown which is open to the public daily until 20:00hrs.
