Sports enthusiast and coach, Anne Gordon, is a Special Person

Aug 16, 2020 News, Special Person

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“I always put God first, as I believe that with God all things are possible. And the key bible verse that we usually use to propel our success is that we cannot do anything without God. Philippians 4:30 says: “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.”

By Enid Joaquin

As a little girl growing up, she was called a tomboy because of her athleticism and her penchant for getting involved in things that some people frowned on and considered “boy stuff”.
But she couldn’t care less, as her preoccupation with beating the boys at their own games, provided such exhilaration that no amount of name calling could’ve deterred her.
Our ‘Special Person’ today, Anne Veronica Gordon, proudly recalls her childhood days, and some of the fun things, which she did that have shaped her adult life into one that touches many youths in her community.
A disciplinarian and staunch Adventist, Gordon has embraced her calling as mentor and coach and is today using her passion and expertise in the field of sports, to coax and hone the skills of the youths in her community.
This preoccupation with sports, she observed, has been serving the youths of Kwakwani well, as there is hardly any time left for them to consider negative pursuits.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Her involvement in sport came naturally.
“My whole family is sports oriented. All of us were involved in some kind of sports since in school,” Gordon shared during a recent interview.
She was born at Ida Sabina Health Centre in the Berbice River in the year 1960.
She was the fifth of eight children born to Christabel and Vincent Gordon.
At the age of two, her parents moved from Ebini, a little village in the Berbice River to Kwakwani.
She grew up in Kwakwani and received her formal education at the Oliver Lutheran Primary and Kwakwani Secondary Schools.
Economic constraints faced by her family, barely afforded her the opportunity of writing four subjects at the GCE O-Level examination.
Moreover, our ‘Special Person’ started working, almost immediately, after graduating from high school.
There was a need, she recalled, to further her education in order to assist financially in the home.
Her first exposure in the world of work was as a security guard with Bermine – Berbice Bauxite Operations at Kwakwani. She eagerly accepted this position since there were no other openings in her areas of interest, she posited.
Later, in 1983, she secured employment as a payroll clerk in the Finance Department. She secured permanent employment six months later and continued to work there until her transfer to the Personnel Department, 10 years later.
Gordon is presently employed by the Kwakwani Television station (KTV) as a transmission operator.

HER PASSION

But her passion has always been things sports.
Slipping further into past memories, she added, “For me, I was the tomboy in the family. I climbed trees, shot birds and most of all played all games as well as my brothers. So in primary and secondary schools, I was totally involved in basically everything. Especially athletics – middle distance races, high jump and field events (javelin, shot put and discus), plus table and lawn tennis, volleyball, cricket and later basketball and netball.”
As if this was not enough, Gordon said, “I was coach player for both volleyball and netball since the mid 80’s. Representing Region #10 in Guyana Games in table tennis and netball and was named Region #10 Sportswoman of the year in 1988.”
Gordon began her coaching career ever since she was in high school. She was instrumental in forming a Volleyball Club in Kwakwani.
“Volleyball was my first love, and so I represented Guyana in 1988 in Suriname, in the Guyana Games, as Vice Captain,” as she spoke of coaching and playing volleyball until 1999.
During that time, Kwakwani’s “Defenders Volleyball Club” enjoyed the distinction of being club champions throughout Guyana.

BASKETBALL FOCUS

Gordon, in 2010, was selected to attend an international three-month coaching course in Hungary.
The Government, through the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), usually selects coaches from the different sports disciplines, for the training course, she explained.
That year was basketball season, and so her achievements in this field, played a crucial factor in her selection.
“It was a practical and academic course, where we learnt so much about basketball…both theory and practical. Then we had examinations to do,” she recounted.
Gordon pointed out that the trainers were surprised to find that she was on par with the other participants. “They were surprised to learn that I only attended high school, and some of the persons that I came up against were University students and much younger!”
She did well enough to place third, an achievement she is very proud of.
Gordon explained that the system in Hungary, as it relates to sports “is far beyond what we have here in Guyana.”
Reflecting on her sojourn there, Gordon explained that part of the training involved attending and analyzing games at various venues.
“It was a complete course, so I worked hard, as I did not want to let down my country!”
She admitted that she gained a lot from the exposure, even though she was quick to point out, that some of the methods taught, she had already been practising in Guyana. “The only thing lacking was the technical terminology, but it was essentially the same things I had been doing in Kwakwani. Whenever there were training sessions here, for the national team, with coaches coming from the United States and so on, that was like nothing to these guys, because that is the kind of training that they are exposed to in Kwakwani,” she related.
Her greatest achievement to date, she noted, is having a player from the remote community, obtaining a basketball scholarship to train in the United States.
That person is none other than Stanton Rose Junior. Gordon said that Rose had trained with her until he was granted the scholarship in 2018.
Asked to pinpoint the most memorable events as it relates to basketball, Gordon quipped, “This one is hard, because all the years are memorable ones, as every year is something different. Every year different players stand out, so we can’t really compare.”
She was however proud to point out, that every year Kwakwani “is in the finals” with all three categories in the National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) reaching finals last year. Gordon also coached and played netball, basketball and volleyball both at the regional and national levels.
In 2000, during an Australian Community Sports Development Programme in Kwakwani, Gordon chose basketball, as she saw the need to harness this growing talent in the community.
From then to now, she has been coaching youths from nine to 19 years, in this field of endeavour.
She notes with pride, that following the establishment of the National Schools Basketball Festival in 2006, Kwakwani was in every final.
This she attributes, to her Christian beliefs by which she guides her charges.
“I always put God first, as I believe that with God all things are possible. And the key bible verse that we usually use to propel our success is that we cannot do anything without God. Philippians 4: 30 says: “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.”
Gordon said that over the years, she has even “lived in with players, whenever they’re out of the community for tournaments.”

SPECIAL GIFT

“I think it’s a gift, by God’s grace, that I can spot a talent in basketball from a distance…I see the potential and I work on it. I’ve done this for the ‘three and three’ Guyana situation.
I chose the teams, put the players together and gave them to the coaches chosen.
Despite all this, she said that her efforts have not been recognized by “the guys in the Federation,” as she has never been chosen.
Gordon admitted that this has caused her to question, on some occasions, whether this is because of her gender and the belief by some that may be less competent than her male counterparts. “I think that they don’t know me enough…In fact, they have not given me the chance,” said Gordon.
Following her coaching stint in Hungary, Gordon said, she returned to Guyana with a 4.04 GPA, the highest ever obtained by any other coach in Guyana.
Today Gordon is a level one National Volleyball coach. She was also the head coach for the CBC senior female team in 2014 that went to Tortola, BVI and was also assistant coach in the 2016 under-16 CBC tournament in Guyana. Gordon also managed the CBC senior games in 2018 in Paramaribo.

KEY SPORT

Basketball is a key sports discipline in Kwakwani, and each player from the community has passed through Gordon’s hands.
However, at present, she is preparing to pass the baton on to one of her charges, Dave Cosway, who she has trained from the age of nine.
Gordon confessed that she has never been paid as a coach, although she has volunteered even at the school level.
She has nonetheless put a lot of her own funds into the sport, and at times received some financial assistance from the community.
She acknowledged that the focus on sports has helped tremendously in keeping the youths in the community grounded, which has given great satisfaction, not only to her, but to parents as well.
Apart from her sports involvement in the community, Gordon is also very active in her Church, where she functions as an Elder. There she plans and helps to nurture the various sporting skills and social activities for the youths.
In addition to things sports and being a voracious reader, Gordon’s life revolves around watching selected television programmes and attending to church business.
For a lifetime of service to her community in various capacities, especially in the field of sports, Kaieteur News is happy to recognise Anne Veronica Gordon as our ‘Special Person’ of the week.

 

 

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