‘Netball at its lowest in 15 years’ - GNA President

‘Netball at its lowest in 15 years’ – GNA President

Sep 05, 2013 Sports

By Sean Devers
At the age of 53 many women would be tending to their grand children instead of wanting to head a struggling National Sports Association. But former National Netball player Lavern Fraser-Thomas is not ‘many’ women.
The mother of five, who also represented her country in Basketball, was elected as President of the Guyana Netball Association (GNA) last month.

Lavern Fraser-Thomas in her office at UG.

Fraser-Thomas disclosed that she took over the leadership of the GNA at a time when the sport of Netball is at its lowest point in the past 15 years.
“It’s an uphill task since I took over as GNA President at a time when Netball in Guyana is at its lowest for the past 15 years” Fraser-Thomas lamented.
Fraser-Thomas became a single parent after her husband passed away but that did not deter her from wanting to continue giving back to sports as an Administrator.
The former athlete, who has held administrative and managerial positions on national teams since representing Guyana in Netball for the last time in 2006, plans to widen the pool of local Netball players at a time when the sport is on a downward sloop.
“I plan, along with my other executives, to increase the player base since at present there are only five Netball clubs in Guyana. Three of those clubs are in the City, while there is one each in Berbice and Essequibo” Fraser-Thomas, who grew up on the East Coast of Demerara, revealed.
“It is also important to garner the human resource for Coaching and Officiating. We (GNA) hope to target the schools and Church communities since a lot of girls can be found in both of these communities,” Fraser-Thomas, who managed the national female Football and Netball teams, said.
Fraser-Thomas holds a Degree and Diploma with distinctions in Public Management along with several certificates in Sports Administration and Coaching and she is presently employed as Sports Organiser at the University-of-Guyana (UG).
Fraser-Thomas, who made her National Netball debut in 1978 before playing her first Basketball game for her country in 1994, is banking on support from the former Netball players to aid in her developmental programmes.
The recipient of two National Awards (Coach of the Year and Sports Personality of the Year) Fraser-Thomas challenged the former players to get on board.

Lavern with UG cricket team which toured Barbados.

“We hope to attract those persons who have played the game to maybe volunteer three hours per week to teach the young girls not only game skills but also life skills since Netball is a team sport,” Fraser-Thomas added.
Fraser-Thomas served the National Sports Commission (NSC) for over 20 years as a Sports Officer and was responsible for sustaining the sport of Netball by getting schoolgirls involved in the game.
She informed that the biggest deterrent to the Sport is unavailability of persons willing to give of their time to teach the girls the basics of Netball.
“Venues are also a problem although at present it is not a huge concern since Netball can be played on both grass and Tarmac. I want to encourage those with knowledge of the game to come forward and assist us,” Fraser-Thomas concluded.
Those desirous of offering assistance can contact Fraser-Thomas on telephone number 680-5850.