-says coach of South American Under23 bronze medallist
Reputable athletics coach Raymond Dauw is proposing that clubs, coaches and athletes should take serious action against president of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Colin Boyce over the state of athletics in Guyana.
Dauw said that his club had lost all confidence in the governing track and field body under the direction of Boyce as his athletes continue to be neglected. Apart from his club, Dauw said that he could not point to an iota of development in athletics that Boyce initiated at the helm of the AAG.
“This is not just about my athletes, but this is about all the athletes in Guyana that have done well and that are continuing to do well but are not getting the push that they need,” Dauw said.
Dauw added that it was ridiculous on the part of the AAG that they could not send 15-year-old sprint sensation Tevin Garraway to the South American Youth Championships in Argentina last weekend. In Dauw’s opinion, Garraway was a sure medallist and might even have captured the gold medal at that event. He argued that the AAG should not be allowed to get away with such catastrophic blunders.
Dauw’s leading athlete Chavez Ageday competed at the South American Under 23 Championships in Brazil where he secured a bronze medal in the men’s 100m. Running Brave track club’s quarter mile specialist Stephon James also competed at that competition and he too copped bronze in his pet event, the men’s 400m.
However, Dauw told Stabroek Sport exclusively that even though those athletes did Guyana proud at that prestigious meet nothing has been done by the AAG to help develop athletes.
Dauw said that the athletes returned home and were treated as though their accomplishments counted for nothing.
“We didn’t even get a call to congratulate the athlete or anything like that, much less any kind of support,” Dauw said.
After returning from Brazil, Dauw and Ageday made an appeal to the AAG and members of the corporate sector to help support the phenomenally talented Ageday who managed to medal at an international event despite adverse training conditions. According to Dauw, Ageday trains on the Mahaica Public Road and sometimes on the Mahaica Bridge itself as that it is their best option at the moment. Dauw stated that there are no available grounds for his athlete to train on grass and the cost and availability of transportation to get to a proper facility are not feasible so as to have sustained training for Ageday on a daily basis.
Dauw said he was hoping that his athlete’s success would cause the AAG to provide some sort of tangible support to an athlete that is just about three tenths (.3s) of a second away from achieving the qualifying times for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Instead, Dauw stated that Boyce was only interested in recruiting Ageday, who is just 19-years-old to be part of the Guyana Police Force track team to strengthen their chances at the Inter Services level.
“The only thing they want is for him to join the force. They are not interested in sending him to overseas camps so he can be exposed to better coaching and facilities or anything like that, but they want him on their team for joint services,” Dauw added.
“They turn athletics in Guyana to joint service sports so it’s either your’e part of the army or part of the police force because at the end of the day they are focussed on competing at joint services for bragging rights,”Dauw added.
Dauw, who also coached three-time CARIFTA 5000m gold medallist Vishwanauth Sukmongal, said that his club has applied several times to the AAG to become an affiliate club and the AAG still has not fully processed their request. Dauw sees that as an attempt to prevent his club for having a fair say in decisions relating to the sport locally, especially when it comes to voting at the AAG’s elections.
While his input may be limited at that level, Dauw said that he felt that he needed to speak out regardless of the repercussions as the future of local athletes is being endangered.
“A lot of people aint saying anything because they scared of getting cuff to face or gun-butt, but you never know we could have the next Olympic gold medallist training right here in Guyana but if we keep allowing these people to not do anything we will never have any success,” Dauw stated.
