President of the Guyana Netball Association Dr Maxine Parris Aaron has decided not to seek re-election when the association holds its elections on Sunday bringing to an end five years of leadership.
Aaron has cited her inability to continue putting her all into the sport and not seeing the results she would like to see.
“Either netball is not ready for me or I am not ready for the sport because I am not seeing what I want to see out of the sport,” she said in an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport.
Indiscipline and a lack of interest in the holistic development of the athletes and poor organisation at the club level were her main points of dissatisfaction.
“My main disappointment was that there were so many personality conflicts that distracted from real progress,” Aaron said adding that many of these personality conflicts came out of the unwillingness of club administrators to follow the constitution.
She said that there was an instance where a coach took a national team of under-16 players to a training camp without the knowledge of the association.
Additionally, there was clear evidence of alcohol use and other forms of bad behaviour at the under 16 level which was in some instances done in front of club administrators and they made no effort to correct the situation. In fact, when Stabroek Sport spoke with the outgoing president problems at the club level appeared to be her main bone of contention.
She said that a pure organizational structure has been maintained for years. However, she said that as president she has worked to improve the situation and has had some measure of success.
The GNA had attached an executive member with each club in an effort to streamline the management of these clubs and more recently, coaches and administrators have been involved in a Caribbean Healthy Lifestyle Programme, which teaches leadership skills. Aaron said that most of the clubs have now established executive bodies but she would still like to see better record keeping.
Aaron also said that another reason she has decided not to seek re-election is because she cannot continue to put her own finances into the sport. Aaron pointed out the netball has not been able to attract a lot of sponsorship. She said that members of the private sector wants to see performance before they support a sport but netball needs investment before people can begin to see good performances.
Because the sport has so many needs Aaron has found herself dipping into her own resources to meet some of those needs. In 2004, she paid for six local coaches to travel to Trinidad and Tobago, to be attached to teams that were participating in the Caribbean Netball Associa- tion’ Senior Championships. She said that these coaches were expected to come back to Guyana to create a national programme for the development of the sport in Guyana based on what they had learnt.
However, this never materialized and two of the beneficiaries of that trip have already migrated and a third was a part of a club that does not function anymore. Aaron said that at the moment Guyana alone has only two coaches with some level of experience and this continues to be one of the main problems facing the sport.
A lack of other facilities has been another crutch for the Association.
Aaron said that one on occasion she funded the painting of a court at the National Gymnasium to the tune of $45,000.
However, she said that coaches at the club level need to be more innovative and begin to utilize that many open spaces since grass courts can be used.
Aaron also said that there is a need for the sport to be developed from the school level and this is something, which needs to be done through the National Sports Commission. She said that in other Caribbean countries students are playing mini-netball from the nursery level and this allows the sport to grow. In Guyana on the other hand players are coming into the clubs with no experience.
She added that many of the players have had a poor educational background and also have other social and economic problems, hence the need for a holistic approach to their development not only as athletes but also as individuals. Aaron said that the Association will need a really strong executive to take it forward and she hopes that they will build on the links that have been created in the regional administrations.
The outgoing president added that recently the GNA has met with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony to discuss how Government can support the sports development. She said that one of the areas she would like to see Govern-ment’s support is the funding of the Association’s dues to three international affiliate organizations to the tune of $150,000 annually. She said that if the GNA is able to maintain its membership in these oganisations opportunities for training, equipment support and the opportunity to participate in more competitions would be available.
Aaron said that she would also like to see Government support one of the Associa-tions annual competitions.
