Two-time Olympian and national table tennis ace player Chelsea Edghill aims to shift the low thinking of how sports are viewed locally to that of it being viewed professionally, with her newly minted Edge Sports Management (ESM) consultancy that seeks to provide services in sport, athlete and sports event management
“I am focusing on policy and strategy development in sport management generally. It took a lot of courage on my part to be very public about this and to offer solutions to areas where a lot of people don’t think it is possible,” Edghill told Stabroek Weekend during a recent interview.
The 27-year-old took the initiative to launch her company after being advised to host a tournament and submitting an events management proposal to sponsors who were impressed with it.
Edghill, who holds a postgraduate certificate in sport management from the University of London, expressed confidence in getting the job done because policy and strategy development are areas she is passionate about and excelled in.
A former student of the Bishops’ High School, she is also the holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Lindenwood University, St Charles, Missouri, USA.
In 2023, after being elected chairperson of the Guyana Athletes Commission she decided that to better help the athletes she represents, she needed to be more versed in the field of sport management. She applied and obtained a partial scholarship to pursue the postgraduate certificate in sport management at the University of London through the World Olympian Association.
“It was one of those things where you feel this is what I was meant to do,” she said. “It was more challenging than my bachelor’s. I like numbers and solving problems with numbers. However, it was figuring out problems and methods with words which I was not used to. Doing my post-grad was interesting and important; it led me to where I am today, that is to advocate for athletes, ensure that systems are in place, that their well-being is considered first, and their decisions and concerns are taken to the highest levels.”
It is also, she said, “To help athletes understand the role they play in society is not just to compete or play a sport but that they also have a responsibility to other young athletes or young people, or people in general who look up to them as exemplars.”
Edghill, who was recently elected as the Americas representative on the Commonwealth Athletes Advisory Commission, took the plunge to found her own company after being encouraged by others to do something about some of the concerns facing athletes.
She recalled a friend telling her constantly to stage a tournament. Eventually she agreed, wrote a proposal and submitted it to a sponsor, according to her friend’s advice. “The feedback from the sponsors was good,” she said. “They asked if I did event management and if I was doing it for many years. I said, I just finished studying and this is my first proposal I am bringing to a sponsor.”
Following that response, Edghill said she felt compelled to get serious and so registered ESM as a business.
Edghill, who has represented Guyana at table tennis regionally and internationally including at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, said ESM, “Is my way of bringing all the things I have learned, … how they put events together, their strategies of developing a sport product, how athletes train, how coaches operate, how the management operate and taking all of those experiences from the centres I have been to and bringing them home and trying to give to athletes the experience of competing abroad.”
She said it might not be done in the manner everyone expects her to execute it, but she will give it a try.
At present, she is focused on gaining valuable experience in the sport management field before pursuing a master’s degree and a PhD.
“It is also a learning process for me while trying to build best practices in an industry that doesn’t exist quite yet. Just a few of us exist in this space. Right now, it is about fostering that kind of network, that kind of camaraderie among people who are willing to put themselves out there to push the needle on how we approach sports, how we manage athletes and being their agent. It is to ensure it is done correctly,” she said.
Guyana has a lot to offer when it comes to sports and development because of the oil industry and the changing economy, she said adding, “It is just a matter of creating that space where we can all develop in a new industry.”
Going forward her focus is to expand ESM, and to work with national federations and local sporting organisations to further develop their area of sport.
She also intends to continue playing table tennis and representing Guyana at the highest level. “My goal right now is to be one of the best players in the world. I have said it before, but now it is more of a need to be ranked among the top 100 players in the world some day,” she stated.
Sporting background
Edghill, of Georgetown, has two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. She attended Mae’s Under 12 Primary where she and her classmates tried to outperform each other in spelling, quizzes and tests.
“We were in primary school and in our little minds I think we were so serious about life, that everything was just geared at that point to outperforming each other in what we did,” she recalled. “It might have been in sports, extra curricular activities like dancing or music. We always wanted to outdo the other person, particularly in academics.”
She noted that Mae’s had a robust physical education programme that included sports like table tennis and cricket that children were exposed to from Grade 1. Her parents also ensured she and her siblings learned to swim at an early age.
“When it came to table tennis, I played it a bit at Mae’s, but it really took off for me when I was nine years old, during a summer vacation when we took part in the Teach Them Young Programme,” she said. On the programme, coach Linden Johnson identified Edghill as a potential talent.
“That summer was very transformative. I found the sport I really enjoyed doing and the competitive nature I had nurtured in school really shone through. Every day I wanted to show up to practise and every day I wanted to be the best,” she said.
At the Bishops’ High School, she interacted with different people from different walks of life. “For me it was the beginning of the friends I have today. A lot of them are from primary school but it is good to be friends with them today. The same as at Mae’s, the atmosphere at Bishops was very competitive,” she noted.
“Being a Bishopian is very prideful. Mostly we competed in academics. Everyone was trying to get good grades for scholarships, and I guess to say we were the smartest. But more so it was a way of making sure that everyone was held accountable and everyone studied and did well.”
She said she was not known for her athletic prowess at Bishops’ even though she was very athletic. “Nevertheless, my athletic career just took off when I got into high school. I have been playing table tennis for 18 years,” she added.
Edghill noted that a physical education programme is in place in schools but not structured sports.
“Playing organised sport should be an integral part of schooling and not only just for sport development but the holistic development of children, of people and just the health side of it. If a lot of students had the opportunity that I had growing up, I think there would be a lot more sportsmen and sportswomen who would be able to represent Guyana at the highest levels,” she said.
For Edghill, mixing table tennis and academics was a matter of time management and looking ahead at what was going to be useful for her careerwise. At the time she was preparing for the Youth Olympic Games in China at which she represented Guyana. She chose the natural sciences.
When she got to Lindenwood University, she told herself she was an adult, her future depended on what she studied, and she needed good grades to pursue a master’s degree or a doctorate in philosophy.
She opted for a bachelor’s in chemistry because her first option of mechanical engineering was not available at the time.
Going professional
After gaining her bachelor’s degree, Edghill had the option of playing professional table tennis or pursuing a PhD in chemistry.
She chose to play professional table tennis after her father, the late Godfrey Edghill advised her to give herself a fair chance to do so as it was something she had always wanted to do.
Because of his support and encouragement, she decided to give professional table tennis a fair shot. She had intended to take a year-long break from studying but because of Covid-19 and the death of her father, it has now been five years that she has been playing professional table tennis.
After Lindenwood University, Edghill moved to Portugal to pursue playing table tennis professionally with the club Lusitania de Lourosa, first in the second division and then in the first division.
“Portugal was very professional in the way they approached training. There were some challenges but overall, it was one of my favourite experiences living abroad. I learnt some of the language and I was able to communicate. I enjoyed the culture, the food, the scenery,” she expounded.
While she was on the certificate programme at the University of London, Edghill also played for a German club in the second league. “The culture was totally different from Portugal. I made some friends at my club,” she added. While her club encouraged her and treated her well, she said where she had to train her experience was not the best.
Training in China, she said, was always an encouraging and fun experience especially with Guyanese teammates. “The training was amazing. I would like to return to China to do some training,” she added.
Throughout her career she had many coaches including Linden Johnson who initially spotted her talent. “He has been supportive of me throughout my career at every step,” she noted.
At 14 years old, she began training with coach Idi Lewis of Malteenoes Sports Club who took her to the Tokyo and Paris Olympics.
“We have been through many challenges together,” she noted. “He has seen me grow up. He has encouraged me on and off court and in anything I got going. I hope there will be more experiences with him.”
Her Lindenwood University coach helped her to navigate the college scene, college training and competing in the collegiate circuit.
Her coach in Portugal was the first to give her the break to play professionally. She was thankful to him and the assistant coach.
She also mentioned her German coach who helped her with her techniques.
Over the years, Edghill has accumulated over 20 gold medals at the national championships and many silver and bronze playing at all levels. She has won three gold medals at the Caribbean championships at various levels and qualified for the Pan American Games by winning the classification in Guatemala in 2019. She took part in two Pan American Games and qualified for three Central American and Caribbean Games, two Commonwealth Games, one World Championships as well as the two Olympic Games.
“My best finish in the Commonwealth was in the round of 32. In the teams we finished fifth overall,” she stated.
As a junior, she once won the Canadian Open Under-15 and a bronze medal in the Under-18 the following year. She also once held the title for the singles in the Silver Bowl women’s under-18 and under-21 in Trinidad and Tobago.
On the collegiate circuit in the USA she won the Midwestern District title three times, the regional championships once, and finished in the top 15 of the US collegiate rankings from 2015 to 2018.
She also competed at the Islamic Games in Azerbaijan and finished 9th overall. In the South American Games, she finished in the quarter finals both times.
She was awarded the National Sports Commission junior sportswoman of the year title four times and in 2018 she was adjudged the senior sportswoman of the year.
Staying grounded
Edghill has relied heavily on her family, in particular, her mother Deirdre Baynes-Edghill, mentors and on friendships to remain grounded.
“My mom literally tells me like it is. My friends and mentors are people who knew me way before the Pan Am Games, the Olympics and all the different things I have done along the way,” she noted. “I rely on them to keep me grounded and call me out when my thinking is not what it should be or to put me back on the path which I would have set for myself. My church, Redeemer Lutheran, gives me that peace and clarity when I need it. Yeah, my family does a good job of keeping me grounded and keeping me as normal as possible.
“Some of my mentors are past students of Bishops’, who would have known me from the time I set foot there. Our relationships have evolved to the stage where I call them my aunts and uncles. They have been there, and they are some of the best people to have around.”
Edghill, a sports icon herself, has a few sports icons she admires.
“I admire Alian Pompey for who she is, who she was as an athlete, who she is as a sports administrator and someone who really works in sports. She has been a mentor to me since I was about 17 years old. I met her at the Commonwealth Games and since then she has been very supportive of what I do, and my ideas, crazy or not,” she said.
She also admires American lawn tennis player Serena Williams, who she met at the last Paris Olympics and spoke with briefly as well as American lawn tennis Coco Gauff who she also met at the same Olympics.
She admires American basketballer LeBron James who she thinks is inspirational in the business side of sports and how he gives back to his community.
