YBG is the manservant of the Director of Sport

Sep 03, 2014 Sports

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Dear Editor,
First, let me congratulate you on the excellent article you carried on Thursday, August 28, 2014, captioned ‘GABF strong stance needs support’ written by Mr. Edison Jefford; the piece captured both our efforts and our plight.
Mr. Editor, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; the last paragraph of the article in your newspaper referenced our fight to remain relevant, and as bothersome as the statement is – it is a fact.
(Chris) Bowman of YBG (Youth Basketball Guyana) on August 30, 2014 – unsuccessfully tried to erase the points made by Mr. Jefford in his article in the Guyana Times. He then went on to raise queries about ‘Camp Pass it On’ that took place in Istanbul, Turkey from August 11-17.
Mr. Editor, Please note the following: Camp Pass it On is a Camp held in Turkey and hosted by the Turkish Basketball Federation to promote basketball for Under-14 kids and a Coach Under the age of 35; (b) It is a global event that lasts approximately one week with over 75 participating countries, with each country sending three persons; (c) Regarding the nature of the event – here is an extract from the Turkish Basketball Federation: “We have countless activities planned, including basketball practices, tournaments, team-building activities, Istanbul sightseeing, planting trees and flowers in the PASS IT ON Garden, participating in a Turkey 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women promotional video, and many other surprises”.
(d) The main reason Guyana didn’t send a team to Turkey was because Mr. Junior Hercules was unable to obtain leave from his employer to attend the Camp. Hercules was the Manager for Guyana’s 2014 CBC (Caribbean Basketball Confederation) Men’s team, which had just returned from Tortola, British Virgin Islands at the time.
(e) Funding was also a challenge as we had drained our resources to fund the Guyana’s Men & Women’s Teams participation in the 2014 CBC Championship. I communicated with Chris Bowman on or before August 4th, 2014, specifically to assist with funding for Stanton Rose’s airfare to Turkey and he said in principle the YBG had no problem in assisting Stanton.
Earlier in the year, Bowman had proposed Stanton as an ideal youth for Camp Pass it On – we in the GABF accepted the merit of the recommendation. All was well and good – until we did not have a chaperon to accompany the minors, a chaperon’s presence is required for the minors to attend.
Mr. Editor it is important that you know these facts about YBG: Youth Basketball Guyana Inc. was incorporated on January 14th, 2013 (though its National Schools’ Basketball Festival is nearly a decade old) this should be a matter of concern for YBG sponsors.
The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) is the only sports Federation in Guyana that has an entity trying to compete with the Associations/Federations goals and objectives.
Section 4 of Article 1 of the YBG Articles of Incorporation states: the purpose of YBG shall be to organise, promote, regulate and operate an independent youth basketball programme in Guyana. At a minimum, YBG shall operate programmes for mini basketball, high school basketball, youth basketball, elite basketball and coaches and referees development on a year- round basis.
Clearly YBG is a parasitic organisation that is seeking to perform the mandate given by FIBA to the GABF.
The de facto Minister of Sport, Neil Kumar has found an ideal lackey in the form of the Bowman led YBG, which plays into Kumar’s efforts to weaken the leadership of the GABF, starting with Colonel Godwin McPherson, continuing with Mr. David Patterson and now these interferences with the present administration of the Federation.
The Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Commission should not be supporting the YBG instead of GABF. None of the aforementioned Presidents of the GABF were willing to be soup-drinkers to Kumar’s idiotic behaviour, thus the uphill struggle to keep the GABF relevant and effective over the past several years continues.
With the Ministry of Sports actively trying to undermine basketball falling under the banner of the GABF, it sends the wrong message to the business community and basketball stakeholders in general while the same Ministry positively promotes YBG; a one-man show that is happy to kowtow, accommodate and benefit from whatever excesses Kumar is willing to persist in promoting.
Over the years YBG has generally failed to develop and spread youth basketball in Guyana, even with large and generous sponsors, we have empty venues when games are played; no inter-school girls basketball over the last three years and limited school participation, even though YBG has been praising itself for their involvement in basketball since 2007.
In paraphrasing Shakespeare, I look forward to the day when the GABF no longer has to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous ‘Director of Sport’ and his manservant in the form of YBG.

Respectfully,
Nigel Hinds
GABF President

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