Yassin addresses lingering misconceptions

Jan 17, 2010 Sports

Calls on coaches to
remain committed

Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) President, K A Juman Yassin potently addressed three of the areas that are most important to the association’s function when he spoke at an Award Ceremony for the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG).
It became obvious, based on the content of Yassin’s presentation that he was attempting to answer some questions that were asked in a separate Kaieteur Sport article.
Principle on a list of questions was the role of the local association.
“There have been questions as to what the GOA has been doing. I do not intend to answer all those questions but for 2009 the GOA has sent 13 persons on various courses,” he told a gathering at the YMCA Hall last Sunday night.
Yassin dealt with three main areas in his speech that included training of officials, absence of those trained and the development of a synthetic track in Guyana. There was no hint of acrimony in the speech that was very informative.
The GOA Head identified the 13 coaches that were trained last year and said that perhaps the association has trained more than a hundred officials under his tenure. He emphasised the need for them to contribute to overall development.
He began with Badminton where Gokarn Ramdhani attended a training course in Mexico last year while Athletics had Julian Edmonds and Raymond Daw trained for two separate purposes in Mexico in June and November respectively.
National Basketball Coach, Robert Cadogan benefited from a course on how to prepare a high performance team while Squash’s Ronald Burch-Smith went to Guatemala on one of the Olympic Academy courses for a special function.
Yassin said that the GOA is considering the establishment of an exhibition site that will be dealing with the Olympic Spirit among other activities. Burch-Smith was the recipient of formal training in that regard and will man that facility.
The Guyana Netball Association’s Shondell Samaroo did a ‘Sport For All’ course in Cuba while Damon Woodroffe represented Hockey at a course in Mexico. Even Canoeing got a piece of the pie when Charles Corbin went to Mexico.
“Rugby is a sport that we are very proud of and one that is making a lot of strides,” Yassin said and therefore, Theodore Henry went on a course in Argentina. Stephanie Fraser went to Mexico while Judo and Taekwando also benefited.
However, despite the training of those officials, which has been an annual phenomenon at the GOA administrative level, Yassin believes that many of them in the past have not been able to make the expected contribution to their disciplines.
“Over the years the Olympic association has sent numerous coaches to (IOC) courses and the question that we must ask is where those persons are now,” Yassin asked, adding that a host of coaches in the past have failed their respective sport.
“When you look around at the individual sports, they (the Coaches) are not there, and one have to ask the question where are they? The associations have to do a lot more to be able maintain and keep those persons,” The GOA Head added.
Yassin recommended an allowance or stipend for the Coaches to prevent them from going into their personal resources, which “really, they cannot afford to do all the time”. He was sure that the GOA is willing to assist with that proposal.
There was much murmuring when Yassin sought to propel the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport to acknowledge the need for a synthetic (rubberised) track in Guyana. President of the AAG, Colin Boyce had made the plea before Yassin.
“But you know Boyce has been asking about that athletics track, and I sincerely hope that his prayers will be answered. I am sincerely hoping that his prayers will be answered this year,” Yassin reiterated with the approval of the audience.
The talk about a rubberised track in Guyana had occupied debates in many circles for the past few decades. It is one of the areas that Boyce promised to tackle when he became the President of the AAG at the association’s AGM last year.
Yassin congratulated the new Executive of the AAG and “sincerely hope that the harmony which the AAG had with the GOA will continue”. On the same breath, he chastised them for being “delinquent” with attendance at the GOA meetings.
The GOA Chief Executive, who is an Attorney-at-Law and former Magistrate, also dealt with the functions of the association in relation to local affiliates but this newspaper will deal with that in a second instalment on Yassin’s presentation.

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Yassin addresses lingering misconceptions

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