New Government must use opportunity to redirect our youths’ energies

May 18, 2015 Sports

By Rawle Welch
‘It is time tell them this is our time,’ should be the outcry of every young athlete in this nation as we usher in a new government, one that it is hoped will exhibit more care and attention to the youths of this country.
For too long young athletes have been robbed of the necessary support and opportunities that could have guaranteed that we compete at the same level of our regional counterparts.
The new government brings new hope for the nation’s youths, a reasonable expectation and one which the wider society also anticipates.
For a country which was in the upper echelon of producing excellent athletes that enjoyed much regional success and commendable results internationally, the past two decades have seen a noticeable decline in our performances, except for a few disciplines that have made visible strides even in the absence of government’s support.
In the absence of such critical assistance, many athletes were faced with the obvious choice of either persevering, knowing full well the huge sacrifices that would be required both in terms of finance or experiencing the real prospect of wasting critical years of their lives if the other components needed to produce an elite athlete remained elusive.
By now the observation of Guyana being a land that produces naturally talented athletes must be a worn out one, but worth mentioning again because it is the only plausible reason that we have to support the little success that we’ve had on the regional scene.
There are many examples to show to establish that fact, the exploits of Rugby, Squash, Hockey, Cricket, Football and Table Tennis readily come to mind.
This is not to say that our coaches rely on natural talent alone to garner success, obviously some amount of hard work must go into the athletes preparations to augment that talent, but when one considers the substandard facilities that we have here, it leaves you in a state of surprise as to how did they do that.
Anyone with some amount of knowledge of what it takes to produce an elite athlete would agree that in many instances we are far away from possessing one and this is simply because the ingredients that are necessary is usually not forthcoming, meaning the Government was unresponsive.
Sport is crucial to a country’s development and, unlike the previous administration which failed to implement a Sports Policy that would have expressed its seriousness about sport development and ultimately athletes, this new government must see it as an opportunity to redirect the energies of our youths.
Too many of them are engaged in unhelpful activities in their spare time and this has caused ethical decay within the society that has evidently become a huge burden on taxpayers.
It is no secret that Guyana has been weighed down by racial strife and collective degradation and Sport which many researchers have shown could be one of the vehicles used to initiate peace, capacity building and economic development has been largely ignored.
There are many examples of programmes being implemented in various countries that deviant behaviour is rampant that has made an impact in helping to reduce crime, drug abuse and other social ills.
Guyana is at the crossroads where many of our youths are uncertain about a bright future in Sport, a viable alternative for those without proper academic achievements, so the petition to this new administration is to ensure that a sizeable chunk of its budgetary allocation is devoted to Sports Development and put into effect its implementation.
Let instances like the Junior Carifta Games disappointment, the current plea by the Guyana Boxing Association and many other associations financial plight be a thing of the past.
The past administration bluffed us repeatedly with the ‘Road to Rio 2016 Olympics’ being the most colossal one.

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New Government must use opportunity to redirect our youths’ energies

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