Are our sports administrators serious about youth development? – Asks Michael Benjamin

Mar 27, 2009 Sports

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Not so long ago the teachers and students of the East Ruimveldt Secondary School (ERSS), situated on Mandela Avenue, just opposite the North Ruimveldt Secondary School, boasted of the sports prowess of students that attended that school.
The Lewis brothers, Vigel and Gordon were setting the tracks ablaze in the 100 and 200 meters races while another athlete, Wayne Mathurin, followed closely in their tracks with scintillating performances at the annual school athletics meet. They were just a few sportsmen from among a large group, also from other disciplines.
Around that time, students of the ERSS and the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School engaged in fierce rivalry in representation of their respective schools. It was around that time that sports stalwarts the likes of former boxers the late, Cliff Anderson and Courtney Atherley were dispatched from the National Sports Development Council (NSDC) to tutor interested school children in boxing while James Brushe and Clyde Duncan conducted training sessions in the finer arts of basketball and cricket, respectively.
Those days are now gone and apparently forgotten even as the Governments around the world have shifted their focus to sports as a nation building catalyst. It is painfully obvious that local administrators are still to board the train.
Yesterday afternoon Kaieteur Sport visited the ERSS, approximately one month after paying a similar visit to ‘Multi.’ The first impression is always lasting but hopefully that rationale does not apply to this situation.
The huge field aback of the school was in a bushy state and in many areas deep holes made by horses and cattle left the field unfit for human occupation. We saw some students, intent on defying the deplorable state of affairs, engaged in a game of football in a small, cleared portion on the eastern side of the field.
Naturally, this journalist inquired of the status quo relating to the sports programme at that school. One of the teachers related that there is no structured sports programme at the school and the students would simply utilize whatever free time that they have, between subjects to engage in a game of football or cricket or whatever their mood dictates. This is the second time in as many weeks that this complaint has assailed our ears.
A perusal of the timetable tells another sorry tale. Physical Education does not comprise a part of the students’ activities. A further examination of the situation reveals that there is no specialist teacher assigned to nurture the physical development of the children. Shocking? If this isn’t, what is?
The school that once produced some of the country’s proficient athletes, boxers and other sports stalwarts still continues to do so but the children are forced to look outside of the system to hone their sports prowess.
During the visit this reporter was informed of several persons that are involved in one sports discipline or the other but were hampered by the unavailability of a games master or even a suitable place to practice their trade. A few of these persons are Eon Alleyne, a national youth footballer attached to the Conquerors Football Club, Carl Thrudo, another youth footballer of the Georgetown Football Club, Pernell Gordon, a youngster that excels in cycling, swimming and football among other sports.
He has the potential to eventually meander into one of these disciplines but the absence of a qualified tutor places a huge question mark on such an eventuality. We were also informed that Odessa Romeo and Lasade Haynes are female footballers attached to clubs in Georgetown but are still to inspire the officials from the Ministry of Education to install a competent games master/mistress to conduct sessions at the school or even make the playing field available for such activities.
Shocked at the state of affairs, this journalist spoke with Director of Youth and Sports, Neil Kumar.
He has promised to give the situation urgent attention. Kumar also said that the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports have recently collaborated with the Ministry of Education and contrived a high powered committee to examine the sports needs of the various schools.
He said that the principal objective is to initiate aggressive action to promote sports in the schools. Kumar said that in keeping with this objective his organization has recently run off a school’s basketball tournament as well as a volleyball tournament. He also said that his Ministry has sponsored a badminton competition at the Queen’s College Secondary School.
He has instructed that the games master at the ERSS write him detailing the needs of the sports department.
In keeping with its ‘watchdog’ role, Kaieteur Sport would be following the concomitant developments pertaining to the installment of a sports programme in the ‘Back school.’ We will then determine the level of seriousness our administrators have placed on sports as a nation builder. Over to you Mr. Director of Youth and Sports!

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