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Youth in Focus: Chelsea is a champion
By Edison Jefford
Chelsea Edghill has a natural competitive character, and it is perhaps the sole reason why she has her lean frame towering tall, above and over her peers in a country that has its limitations when it comes to the exposure of athletes and the requisite resources.
It’s extremely difficult for the top player to hide her passion for table tennis: her passion, coupled with obvious academia, has led the 15 year old phenom to the top of the country and Caribbean, but she is hardly ever cognisant of that fact, which intrinsically creates greater desire.
Chelsea Edghill
Edghill is a competitor and it may be the one attribute of her personality that makes her a beacon for the sport in Guyana. She is a champion in the connotative and denotative meanings of the word; losing, therefore, is never an option and that is her inspiration.
The last time we spoke extensively, Chelsea told me that she needs to train more. That comment was met with a plain reaction since her routines at her club, Malteenoes Sports Club are anything but effortless, yet she continues to believe that she has to put in more work.
Last year, the former National Junior Sports Woman of the Year was the lone medallist on an enterprising national junior table tennis team of over 20 players at the Caribbean Championships in Cuba. She returned to Guyana and went back to practice almost immediately, believing that she can achieve much more with improved table time.
Playing against the region’s strongest and more prepared junior players from hosts, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, Edghill’s silver medal performance was a beacon of light for the Guyanese contingent that was steeped in darkness against the techniques of the seasoned countries last year.
“I need to train more, get more table time, improve physically and I need to be exposed to much more tournaments, training camps and to play much more different styles of players in Guyana,” Edghill said then, and she has done just that this year.
As such, the fifth form Bishop’s High School student was part of a senior team this year that went to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships in Paris, France and Caribbean Championships in Trinidad and Tobago.
Even though she did not achieve the desired result at the highest level, she knows exactly where her weakness lies. Edghill had complained about meeting the same players repeatedly in Guyana and a need to participate in an international circuit with top players.
Chelsea Edghill (right) plays a shot against Trenace Lowe.
She believes that she can balance her academics and table tennis career through attending a Latin American circuit during the august holidays. Her club and coach, Idi Lewis is very serious about her development and exposure to as many different levels as possible.
Edghill has had steady growth since she won the Caribbean Championships’ U-13 gold medal in 2010, the same year she won the National Sports Commission ‘Junior Sportswoman of the Year’ Award after other dominant performances in and out of Guyana.
The Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) has vowed to ensure that it continues to invest in Chelsea’s career, knowing that her sometimes solo efforts for her country often keep the Golden Arrowhead on its flag-pole in the sport.
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