AAG/NSC/We Hope Inc. launch Athletics Camp

Aug 10, 2016 Sports

Director of Sports, Christopher Jones (centre) with We HOPE Inc President, Claudia John (on his left) and AAG President, Aubrey Hutson (on her left) among some of the athletes after they received the running shoes.

The Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), The National Sports Commission (NSC) and We HOPE Inc., launched an inaugural Track and Field Camp that began yesterday. The Camp will end this weekend with a meet at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.
Officials from the respective stakeholders launched Camp at the National Resource Centre, with AAG President, Aubrey Hutson, Director of Sports, Christopher Jones, and President of We HOPE Inc, Claudia John, among athletes.
John, who is an overseas-based Guyanese, donated 100 running shoes to young athletes. The initiative is aimed at addressing a deficiency in Guyana. This, according to Hutson, prevents local athletes from making an impact globally.
“The AAG through its commitment to the IAAF to hold track and field camps in Guyana to deal with the three aspects that we feel are the reason why we are not producing world caliber athletes; one of them is the adequate technical training, secondly, nutrition, and thirdly, to be able to have athletes operate together so that we can achieve the goals that we would like to see.” Hutson said.
The Camp is aimed at developing both athletes and coaches, and is expected to involve some 100 athletes and over 30 Coaches, who will be encamped for the one week period at the Leonora Secondary School, next door to the synthetic facility.
Former Grenada Olympian and current US track coach, Joel Phillip, who will be working along with and lending technical and guidance to coaches here, will be working with the Camp. Phillip is a coach with We HOPE Inc.
The Camp is expected to be an annual initiative, at least for the next four years, and focus will be placed on identifying athletes for the next Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
“This is where we start, we start by holding Camps and ensuring that the athletes from as small as age nine or eight are exposed to the best possible coaching that there is locally,” he continued.
At the end of the camp, the participants will be issued with certificates of participation. During his remarks, Jones recalled the story of how he was contacted a few months ago by John, with her hopes of donating 20 pairs of shoes.
He said that the donation grew to 100 pairs. John decided to make the donation after her 11 year old son, Matthew John, himself an athlete in the US, encouraged her.
“Several months ago, Ms. Claudia Simon made contact with me, with an initiative that she has, she wanted to give 10 athletes in Guyana 10 shoes, that mushroomed into something larger and we now have 100 that we’re going to be giving to the athletes here in Guyana,” Jones said.
We HOPE (Helping Other People Excel) Inc. is aimed at providing opportunities to children and youths to achieve their full potential in academics and sports in developing countries. Saturday’s meet will see the participation of all of the athletes who were apart of the Camp. It will begin from 10am.

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