Grassroots development priority on GRFU’s agenda National coaches selected

Feb 27, 2020 Sports

By Calvin Chapman

The newly elected executive committee of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) that is headed by Ryan Dey has put grassroots development and decentralisation on the front burner for local rugby.

Competitive rugby returns next month with 7s and 10s tourneys that will be played concurrently.

Ryan Dey – President of the GRFU.

Speaking to Kaieteur Sport yesterday, Dey explained that grassroots development is needed in order to improve and maintain a high level of competitiveness by the national ruggers throughout the years, while the decentralisation of the sport from Georgetown will allow for some fresh faces and legs to have the opportunity to represent the Golden Arrowhead.
Guyana enjoyed great spells of dominance at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) level in the past but recently there has been a decline in the level of competition expected by the ‘Green Machine’which the incumbent President believes is due to the small player pool.
“The GRFU has always been a democracy and I believe that we as a body have failed to have contingencies for the unavailability of our elite players which has costed us dearly in the recent past,” Dey

Laurence Adonis – under-19 and men’s 15s coach.

mentioned. He further added that, “We have grassroots development officers that will do outreach programmes in schools and it is in our aim, by the end of our two-year tenure, to have Berbice and Linden-based squads to rival the Georgetown players for spots in the national setup.”

Sabola ‘Sabby’ Gray – women’s coach.

The new executive that was elected into office earlier in the year is currently putting together their calendar of events. Dey explained that there will be no ad-hoc ran rugby tournaments. All local tournaments will be contested within normal rugby season periods of February-May and August-November.
In the pipeline are a 7s and 10s tournaments that will be played next month in conjunction with National training in preparation to play Trinidad and Tobago this April at home in a 15s fixture.
The bugbear of having sufficient rugby pitches available still lingers but the

Theodore ‘Theo’ Henry – men’s 7s head coach.

President is optimistic that the pitch in the middle of the National Park Athletics track will be available for the important fixture.
In other rugby news, a correspondence from the Public Relation department of the GRFU late yesterday, announced the names of the elected National coaches that will be leading Guyana’s ruggers, at every participatory regional and international level.
The names of the coaches and their assistants are listed below.
Under 19
Head Coach: Laurence Adonis
Assistant Coach: Oslen Ollivierre
Senior Men 15s
Head Coach: Laurence Adonis
Assistant Coach: Oslen Ollivierre
Senior Men 7’s
Head Coach: Theodore ‘Theo’ Henry
Assistant Coach: Kevin ‘Buck’ McKenzie
Women
Head Coach: Kenneth ‘Shane’ Grant-Stuart
Assistant Coach: Sabola ‘Sabby’ Gray
The coaches’ tenure will run concurrently with the two year tenure of the current executive.

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