Gaskin leaves for youth athletics programme

Aug 20, 2010 Sports

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– Coach to be trained in Argentina

Head Coach of the Mercury Fast Lanners Track and Field Club, Christopher Gaskin departed the country yesterday for Argentina where he will complete a Youth Athletics Programme as part of an Athletics Association of Guyana development thrust.
Gaskin told Kaieteur Sport before he departed that he will seek to do his best on the course so that he can return to give back to the sport. The veteran youth coach is scheduled to undergo the training through August 19-27 and will return the following day.
In addition, Gaskin said that his club was invited to compete in Suriname during August 26 and September 6 following their performance at the Hampton Games in Trinidad and Tobago. He said that he will come back in time to join his team in Suriname.
Gaskin is nationally respected as one of the better youth coaches. He was responsible for the budding of national sprint aces Rawle Greene and Keith Roberts. At the schools’ level, Gaskin has produced hundreds of athletes for East Georgetown.

Fifth place finish commendable – McIntosh

-Emphasis should be placed on the indoor format

By Rawle Welch
Head Coach of the national hockey team Timothy McIntosh speaking with Kaieteur Sport on Wednesday said he believes that due to Guyana’s outstanding performances in the indoor format of the game, emphasis should be placed on that aspect.
McIntosh was reporting on the team’s encouraging results at the recently staged Pan Am Championships where they finished fifth after entering the event as the lowest ranked team.
“I think if you look at the ranking that we went into the tournament with and to finish fifth I would have to say that that was a commendable achievement from the guys,” the Coach felt.
He pointed out that the opening loss to Argentina was a real disappointment, but blamed a combination of nervousness and lack of consistent play at the international level as the primary reasons for the loss.
McIntosh said in the game Guyana had a number of chances to win the match, but failed to convert them, adding that a lack of adequate international experience created the nervousness among the players.
He, however, felt that even though the current squad will eventually lose a few players, who are coming to the end of their careers, many of them are talented enough to keep us formidable opponents against teams.
“The nucleus of the team is made up of young players and many of them with the right guidance and coaching will develop into stars,” McIntosh mentioned.
Touching on the performance of a few players, the Coach said that forward Robert France in his opinion had a mixed tournament and was regarded as the main goal scoring threat for the team.
“He is still relatively young, but needs to work on the technical aspects of his game to improve and when that is done, he will be a very potent threat to opposing teams,” he noted.
Another player to impress on the tour was young Rayon Branford, who according to McIntosh has all the attributes to develop into a star player.
According to McIntosh, Branford did not get sufficient playing time, but whenever he did showed admirable qualities and seems to be a very strong and aggressive player with good legs, all important characteristics to be a very good indoor player.
Players such as Shane Samuels and Alex Gouveia had mixed performances, but performed well in certain positions.
He informed that Guyana played with a few injured players such as Jerazeno Bell, but overall the team did well.
Marvin Dannett, the overseas-based player on the squad was one of the few to adapt comfortably to the international environment and even though he did not get the goals expected from him, he fitted in well as a utility player.
Another player who came in for special mention was goalkeeper Michael Xavier.
According to the Coach, he stepped up to the challenge admirably, especially in the last two games at crucial periods.
“Technically he is good; there is room for improvement, especially with his mental approach.”
McIntosh revealed that Xavier was exceptionally good at the short corners.
“Generally in the tournament we weren’t satisfied with how we approached our short corners and it is really a case of not having enough international experience because if you look at the match against Argentina, we played better than them, but failed to convert our short corners which cost us the match,” McIntosh stated.
Recommendations-
In the initial post tournament discussions, McIntosh noted that the players need more exposure internationally, disclosing that it is a discrepancy that they will be looking to address with the Board.
He also stressed the need to have a continuous indoor programme, adding that it seems to be the format of the game where Guyana is stronger in, especially when the absence of an artificial turf is taken into consideration and the positive results that we garner from indoor competitions regionally and internationally.
Another point that was highlighted was the need to organise more local indoor tournaments at every level and the attendance of such also at every level.
This he said will no doubt be costly, but it is the only way to guarantee that we maintain our ranking internationally and also raise the level of play here.
He noted that the Canadian team had at minimum five players below the age of 20 years and that is evidence of how they are placing strong emphasis on continued development in their programme.
Team Manager Gavin Hope in his statement said the team displayed admirable professionalism throughout the tour, adding that they knew exactly what they had to do and stuck together as a team.
“I think that is what really helped us through the tournament, the younger guys stepped up and really showed the seriousness of being representatives of the country. I think they did Guyana proud and my job was made easier due to their obvious professional conduct,” Hope reported.
Hope was high in praise of Captain Devin Munroe, who according to him played a significant role in keeping the team spirit high at all times.
“It was his composure that made the back room work easy,” Hope said.
The two thanked main sponsors Digicel and DeBeers Precious Minerals and all the others who contributed to the tour. Mojo’s Club that facilitated two fund raisers for the team, the Venezuelan Hockey Federation, the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport and the staff at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, also came in for special mention.

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