The Guyana Netball Association (GNA) is to craft a development plan soon and then the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) would be willing to offer some form of support.
“The GOA asked us to provide them with a developmental strategy which we are working on as they are going to give us some amount of assistance,” said GNA President, Kim Kyte-John.
“We have a member who sits on the board and what they (GOA) eventually want to do is to have a coach… and assist with paying the coach. So we are going to put together the plan and submit it to them.”
Kyte-John sees this as a plus since netball is gaining the kind recognition it has been craving for some time now.
“We’re thankful for the assistance from them and every other sponsor as we have received a lot from sponsors recently.”
Apart from small businesses, many individuals have been contributing to the association to assist with either travel to overseas championships or sponsorship for local tournaments.
The development plan, Kyte-John said, will be presented to the GOA within the next two weeks.
She also said that the association is aware of the financial assistance they can receive from the International Federation of Netball Associations, and they will be taking advantage of that in the future. According to her, the association is unable to pursue that at the moment.
“They obviously need a structure before they can offer finance, but we have to establish a structure first and establishing a structure means you have to pay somebody. To pay somebody we need to have an office and that means we are going to incur rent, electricity and perhaps Internet.”
Eventually, she said, the association will get to that stage but at the moment it is in the process of paying off debts while trying to organize tournaments for the girls.
Acknowledging that there is only so much sponsors could do, she noted that they are working to establish a structure in the association.
“We have to get enough to get to that level which would require a full-time person to stick with the game and put things in place. If we get that obviously we will go far in the sport as we will have somebody to organize tournaments and get things going, but those things come at a cost.”
