Hectic but good year for MCYS – Dr. Frank Anthony

Dec 22, 2008 Sports

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While the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport endured a very hectic 2008, Minister Dr. Frank Anthony believes that the year was still a good one for Guyana.

The Ministry was deeply involved in Carifesta but still had to focus on the development of Youth and Sports.
The city and its close environs were fairly active in respect of sport activities but one of the challenges the Ministry faced this year according to the Minister was the capacity in the regions to effectively administer and run events.

“While we have come up with a number of innovative programmes, it is trying to get them out into the region that has been challenging and there are two major areas for this. One is capacity at the regional and community level and the second thing is monies to organise in the regions.”

Even with these challenges, Dr. Anthony said they have tried to place major emphasis on the promotion of more sports at these levels alluding to the community football programme that has started around the country, competitions being organised as far as Madiha to date.

“This I think has begun to work very well and it’s some thing we will be continuing with next year. We will not only stick to football, we will bring in softball cricket, basketball and volleyball so we will expand it by bringing in other disciplines.”

Also falling into the calendar were the days of interaction where a number of disciplines are played at one venue in one day bringing together persons of all ethnic backgrounds and persuasions in a sporting atmosphere.  

“Given our diversity in Guyana we want people to become more united with each other and I think sport’s is that great vehicle that can do so.”    The annual five-stage cycle road race where stages are held in every county was also a success for the Ministry. 

ACHIEVEMENTS
With regard to infrastructure, the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and National Gymnasium were both refurbished with the lighting systems upgraded to ensure fans and players are much more comfortable.

“We also did some work on the tarmac at the National Park and have installed lights there as well, so sports like basketball, Netball and Lawn Tennis can be played at the Park now.”

Refurbishing of the Woolford Avenue facility had commenced but according to Minister Anthony it was stalled due to bad weather but he assured that monies have already been allocated to complete the works including the hard surface for the two lawn tennis courts.

“More work has to be done on the building and we want to put in a spectator stand and so I think in the New Year we can safely say that facility will be fully operational.”

SWIMMING POOL
Work was started on the construction of a state of the art swimming pool but had to be halted since piles are required to strengthen the foundation for the intended structure.

“This (piles) was not catered for in the budget and before we proceed to do anything, we have put a hold on it since we need to have more monies to go forward because what we had allocated (finances) originally, cannot take care of everything. But again, we are working with the engineers to ensure that is covered.”

SPORTS POLICY
Finally, Guyana seems to be closer to realising a Sports Policy that will govern the way we administer sports across the board. The Minister reported that the document is still in its initial stages (draft) and it is hoped that by the end of the first quarter of 2009, it would be finalised.

“A number of stakeholders have worked on the document and it is a combined effort. I can say at this point I’m a little bit more pleased with the document that we have now.”

Among the areas the policy will cater for are getting sports back in the curriculum of schools; looking at sports at different levels from the nursery; development of athletes on a long term basis; accreditation of coaches, umpires, referees, administrators and Anti doping. Minister Anthony pointed out that in this (Anti Doping) particular area, special legislation would need to be passed to deal with same.             

“Sports now is very scientific, if you don’t go with the flow and if you are not upgraded with the techniques then there is no way we are going to win anything, so it is imperative that all and sundry in sports are brought in line with the new technologies and requirements of the modern sporting world. It might be a tough step to take but it is necessary for us.”

PERFORMANCE OF FEDERATIONS/ASSOCIATIONS
The performances of many of these bodies continue to be of concern to the Minister who did point out that some would have done well during the year.

“I think we really have to, maybe look back at our legislation to give it a little bit more strength on how we address some of these associations because as it is now, there is a kind of vertical arrangement between them and the international federations, they feel more accountable to those bodies and there is nothing wrong with that, but what is not happening is a strong connection between these federations and say the ministry, and that has to change for the better.”  

Clear plans on how they intend to develop the sport are needed from these bodies according to Minister Anthony.

“Yearly plans, reports on elections and fund raising should be submitted because as government we cannot give all the money but if they have a fundraising plan we can see how we can supplement it. So these are things that we would like to see happen. I don’t want to bash anyone but really, a number of associations have not been doing much work.”

In pointing to the leaders of the various bodies, Dr. Anthony mentioned that it is assumed that they all have an interest in sport but it has to be much more than an interest.

“They have to move it to a level where we can actually see tangible development of the sport, because if you’ve been the head of an association for lets say five, ten years or more and one cannot see how it has moved or expanded from when it was taken over, then one really has to reexamine what is happening.”

The Ministry will need to work more closely with these bodies the Minster pointed out, with a view to improving the relationship and moving the process forward next year, each one of them (associations) he said is important.

“But I think a lot of them could have done better this year. If you go through the statistics of what was accomplished this year, you can clearly see that.” 

The membership of some bodies Dr. Anthony said has been dwindling instead of growing and this is another area that has to be tackled in 2009.

HELP TO ASSOCIATIONS 
Assistance to the Association/Federations has been given in many ways the Minister disclosed.  These include tax concessions (cost of airline ticket & airport tax) to which the Ministry has been very responsive.
“The second level of intervention would be when they need money to travel abroad, in some cases we would have been able to give some amount of money but not to cover total expenses.”

Some teams and associations have been more active than others and require a lot of financial help but Dr. Anthony said they would not have been able to give all but they tried their best to help.

“I don’t have an unlimited pool of money to give so that is why there would have to be a combination of some assistance from the government and the associations themselves doing fund raising.”

Combined efforts are needed for associations to succeed and at the same time planning ahead is also very necessary.  In time past, Dr. Anthony alluded to the fact that companies donated monies to national bodies through the National Sports Commission (NSC) and they would get a tax waiver in return.

“It would be an incentive for companies to do so because they’re getting it back through tax write offs, so I think if we go back to that mechanism then maybe we might be able to raise more funds from corporate Guyana that could help the athletes and that is something that we really want to work on because I think it would help to ease some of the burdens that our athletes and associations face when going abroad.”

CARIBBEAN GAMES
These games are slated for Trinidad and Tobago next year and to date not much, if anything at all has been done locally to indicate that Guyana will have a representative team.

Dr. Anthony disclosed that it is the responsibility of the associations to select their teams for these games and the Ministry would work with them to facilitate their participation.

ATHLETES WHO EXCELLED IN 2008
Topping the list in this regard is West Indies Middle order batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul who copped the ICC Cricketer of the Year award and has also replaced Garry Sobers as third on West Indies’ list of top run-getters in Tests following his half-century in Dunedin, New Zealand last week. Chanderpaul has enjoyed a bumper year to date.                

Others coming in for special mention by Dr. Anthony are female and male middle distance sensations Alika Morgan and Cleveland Forde, boxer, Clevon Rock who did Guyana proud at the junior Commonwealth Games and the Minister believes there is lots of potential in Rock.

“I believe that one of our strongest bets for an Olympic gold is in boxing and boxers the likes of Rock can achieve that but we would have to work with him and others from now.”

Sylvon Gardner and Hugh Ross in the field of Bodybuilding, both excelling at the Muscle Mania Professional level.

In team sports Guyana also enjoyed a good year with rugby, squash, Table Tennis and hockey doing well, especially the female teams in these disciplines.    

“Our athletes by and large have done well for us during the year and there have been many bright spots in various disciplines but we need to continue doing more.” 

Minister Anthony wished the all the athletes, administrators and fans a Happy Christmas and a productive and rewarding 2009 with the hope that it will see Guyana moving to higher heights in the sporting arena.

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