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UNDP/MCYS Long Term Athlete Development Workshop deemed a success
– so says Minister Anthony & Sports for Development Consultant Colin Higgs
Ahead of what would be the historic unveiling of the National Sports Policy, the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport (MCYS) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) conducted a Long Term Athlete Development Training of Trainers Workshop.
The aim of the two-day workshop which attracted 50 participants and took place at the Carifesta Sports Complex was to sensitise coaches, teachers and youth workers among others on the importance of Long Term Athlete Development Training.
Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony (seated with tie) and Dr. Colin Higgs (to right of Minster) pose with participants of the UNDP/MCYS Long Term Athlete Development Workshop.
The facilitator of the workshop was experienced Canadian Sports for Development Training Consultant Dr. Colin Higgs who is also working on the drafting of Guyana’s sports policy.
Dr. Anthony during his brief closing remarks challenged the participants not to sit on the information they were exposed to but to go back to their various associations and groups and work to initiate change.
“You must be eager now to implement and work towards a whole new culture of sports development in Guyana. My Ministry and the Government is committed to the progress and moving to the next level of sports in Guyana and we are looking to you to assist in this regard.”
Dr. Anthony commended the participants who were drawn from all across Guyana, for their commitment in attending for the entire two days and be actively involved.
The sessions on both days were very interactive according to Dr. Higgs who noted that by the end it resulted in persons thinking a little differently about how sports could and should be done if they are really doing it for the benefit of the children and youth of Guyana. Dr. Higgs reminded that it’s a long road but he felt that this was a really good first step in what should be an exciting and challenging journey.
“I am just thrilled with the quality of the persons and the interest that was shown as they worked with me during the various sessions which made my job really easy. They’ve been a great group and just hope that they’ll just take this message, go out into their own sports and communities and spread the word.”
Touching on what he would like to see participants doing in the immediate future that would really impact a positive change in the way things are done Dr. Higgs said: “I would like them to look at exactly what they are doing, what they now know they should be doing and to try to start plan and figure out how they are going to get the changes necessary so that we can do what’s right for the children and youth.”
Dr. Higgs noted that a lot of the problems in sports systems around the world, is the fact that too much is done with kids what should be done with adults instead of what they need to do as kids at that age.
“So it’s just a way of going back and taking a hard look at what they are doing and making some small initial changes in the right direction, get some success make some more changes and move it to a system that really can develop the children and youth of Guyana either so that they can become healthy active citizens or if they’ve got the talent, drive and ability to become high performance athletes.”
Higgs has a wealth of experience working in a similar capacity in other countries and a number of Provinces in his native Canada, doing about 20 workshops of this nature. He stated that the Guyanese group is as good as any other he has worked with anywhere.
“I’ve been working with Barbados recently, in Canada; I’ve been doing work in a number of the different Provinces across Canada and we are applying the same kind of work – the group that I represent – in England, Scotland, Wales, in some of the Middle Eastern Emirate countries and very similar kinds of programmes are also being done in Australia and New Zealand. So it’s a kind of a worldwide process and Guyana is taking its rightful place in that process.”
“So I’m looking forward to a healthier, fitter nation and some good results in high performance sports from Guyana but remembering its Long Term Athlete Development and you don’t create winners overnight. You need to give them time to develop and so if I were to say when will we see that – seven to ten years – that’s how long it takes to develop a world class athlete.”
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