Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Sport underfinanced – Nascimento
– Inadequate preparations also cited
Kit Nascimento
President of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) Noel Adonis told the media during a debriefing session to report on the country’s dismal performance at the NAWIRA Under-19 Championship which was held in the Cayman Islands recently that the issue is a worrisome one and needs to be addressed thoroughly.
“To say that it is not a monumental worry is to ignore the importance of the results and we are not going to attempt to offer excuses for the team’s poor performance,” Adonis said.
The GRFU Boss, who was accompanied by Head Coach Laurie Adonis, Team Manager Curtis Jacobs, Assistant Coach Theodore Henry, West Indies Senior Captain Claudius Butts and West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) President Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento, stated that in previous years, the Union ensured that teams enjoyed longer preparatory periods, but due to a series of factors, this is no longer the case.
He cited the absence of the Under-16 level as one of the main setbacks for players selected to compete at the U-19 stage since they are now coming into the programme at a later point therefore the basic knowledge of the fundamentals are missing and in some cases they are now learning the sport.
He pointed out that what they may be forced to do to arrest the decline in standards is to modify the current schools programme.
Another feature that was highlighted by the Head Coach was that the local players are not as big as their counterparts and this affects their ability to maintain possession and to score points.
“In this sport, unlike many others size matters, points come by possession particularly in line-outs and scrums and often times those countries with the bigger players have a distinct advantage,” Adonis mentioned.
Nascimento in his remarks said that “we’ve dropped from a team that won the championship a few times to the bottom of the pack.” He, however, stated that from a WIRU standpoint the standard of the game has improved immensely and they’re happy about that.
Nascimento added that another primary reason for Guyana’s decline has to do with its state of finance which he referred to as being ‘underfinanced’.
He gave as example of teams that have been properly financed and which has been able to make tremendous improvements.
“Countries such as Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Trinidad and Tobago have all benefited tremendously from support of its Governments and the Private and Public Sectors,” Nascimento disclosed.
He said that our teams do not enjoy the same luxury; we do not get the opportunity to play warm-up matches against international opposition which is something all the other teams usually have prior to competing in the Caribbean tournament.
Added to that, Nascimento mentioned, is the fact that Guyana lost two of its most senior coaches who according to him are not easy to replace.
The WIRU Head emphatically stated that the team did not have adequate preparations and this was no fault of the Union, but more to do with the lack of a proper Sports Curriculum within the schools system.
The media offered a few recommendations of its own, calling on the GRFU to periodically retain specialist coaches for longer periods so as to fast track the junior development.
Nascimento, however, said that why this is not done more often is because of the Union’s embarrassing financial position which has it owing NAWIRA in the vicinity of US$5,000 that was borrowed to send the team.
The grant that is given to us is primarily for junior development and for us to continue to draw down on such generosity, we have to ensure that we have a presence at such tournaments,” Adonis disclosed.
“The plight of our situation has national consequences in every respect,” Nascimento felt.
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