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National basketball coaching choices peeve Panday
Vijay Panday
– Scorpions’ Coach frustrated with being overlooked
By Edison Jefford
Scorpions’ Head Coach, Vijay Panday yesterday expressed his frustration over frequently being overlooked for national coaching jobs, following the announcement of the Coaches that will prepare Guyana’s teams for international duties.
Kaieteur Sport reported in its Wednesday edition that the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) had named Mark Agard, Robert Cadogan, Abdulla Hamid and Kirk Fraser as the Coaches that will train both male and female teams.
In addition, it was revealed in that article that GABF Vice-President, Floyd Levi will play an important role in ensuring that those Coaches function efficiently, as the federation has its vision focused on hosting eight foreign teams in August.
Panday was hoping that he would have been one of the Coaches called to the panel, and it frustrated him to the point of criticism when he was overlooked. He told Kaieteur Sport at a no-holds-barred interview yesterday that he is “demoralised.”
Robert Cadogan
“It’s overbearing now; every time Guyana has big tournaments, we’ve been seeing all the same Coaches over and over, and we who’re actually coaching all the time are not getting any chance,” an obviously disappointed Panday indicated.
He said that he does not have a “problem” with Agard but believes that none of the others should have been appointed to the panel. The assessment was that Cadogan and Hamid are not active and Fraser lacks experience, and has no track record.
Cadogan is perhaps Guyana’s most qualified Coach with training in Hungary and Mexico recently in High Performance Preparation of Basketball Teams. He last coached the local junior national team at the Inter-Guiana Games in Suriname last year.
However, Cadogan, who became the Secretary of the Georgetown sub-association for the sport, had sidelined coaching at the number one ranked Courts Pacesetters’ Club for more administrative responsibilities, which led to the club’s slump.
Cadogan, though, remains the National Sports Commission’s choice for any national duty involving Government. Hamid has a similar track record, though less qualified, he has the experience with both junior male and senior women’s teams.
Abdulla Hamid
Agard has been consistently on the forefront after taking the lowly-ranked Pepsi Sonics at the Division I level to become a force to reckon with in Georgetown. Agard, along with Hamid, had coached the senior women’s team in Antigua.
The lone appointee on the panel without national exposure and experiences is Fraser, who has single-handedly held the Berbice faction of the sport together. Panday believes that is one of the reasons why Fraser was favoured for the panel.
“Fraser is a member of the federation Executive with no coaching experience whatsoever. Tell me how he made the panel ahead of me, who took Scorpions from nothing and made them the number four or five team in Georgetown,” he asked.
“What happen to Robbie (Robert Byass-Wismar Piston Coach) and ‘Curry Pork’ (Claude Williams-Bulls Coach)? When will we get our chance? This is really frustrating me, when will we, who actually coach, get a break?” Panday fervidly continued. The Scorpions Coach informed that the naming of the officials ahead of him has placed a lot of pressure on him in society. He said that his colleague have been asking him about a possible stint at the national level following the release.
Panday stated that being on the panel, at least, was one of the things that he had wanted to accomplish in his career this year, but that does not seem likely now. “It looks personal to me, I can’t see how I was not even considered,” he said.
“I feel so bad about it-it don’t look good for the federation and basketball. I wanted to be on that panel and nobody called me to even ask if I was interested,” Panday related, and then reiterated that he has taken his team among the top five.
The peeved Basketball Coach believes that is enough for a consideration at least. He said he will continue to work with his club and in that process, he will ensure that his club has the arsenal to beat all those other clubs that are ahead of him.
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