Unless Guyana changes its antiquated culture about sport, the country will continue to be stagnant and remain in the doldrums on the world stage.
This is the opinion of four-time Olympic medal winner, Ato Boldon and three-time Olympian and silver medalist, Grace Jackson who commenced a three-day sports management workshop yesterday.
Speaking to this publication from the National Resource Centre, Boldon, the former Olympic sprinter who is now a NBC Sports and ESPN television broadcast analyst for track and field stated that “There has to be a change and the first thing that has to change is the culture.”
Boldon, who is the current Trinidad and Tobago national record holder in the 50, 60 and 200m events with times of 5.64, 6.49 and 19.77 seconds respectively added: “If you don’t have a culture of sport, then young people don’t have an incentive to get involved.”
Boldon added: “The reason why we look at the World Cup and we see Brazil playing a certain way is because their culture involves playing football in a certain way and that has to happen in a country of Guyana. Until you establish a culture of sport being important and something to aspire to then none of the other plans will be important. You can build all the stadiums and everything else and nothing will happen, it starts from the culture and the young people.”
The 40-year-old Atlanta Olympic Games double bronze medallist (100 and 200m) said that he gets to see track and field from every level..“From the grass roots to the Olympic level. As a result I am able to share what works and what does not.
“I have consulted for several countries like Saudi Arabia and Australia and I have experience as a world champion and Olympian, I’ve been a part of this for decades so I know what I am saying.”
Jackson, who represented Jamaica at three Olympic Games (1984,1988 and 1992) and now lecturers at UWI’s Mona Campus, echoed Boldon’s sentiments and went on to outline the activities for the three-day workshop.
Day one (yesterday) dealt with the Reviewing, Redoing and Revitalizing the Sports Structure (session one), Sports Administrators and Nation Building (session two), Building and Strength-ening Sports Associations (session three) and a Group Assignment.
Today’s sessions will focus on Marketing Your Sport to the Region/World (session four), Develop-ment of Elite Athletes-A Framework for Progress (session five),
Connecting with the People through Event Planning and Management (session six) and a Group Assignment.
Tomorrow, the final session will deal with Planning and Preparation for Group Presentations followed by lunch and the grand closing ceremony.
Besides Boldon and Jackson, speakers will include Karen Pilgrim, June Rudder, Kit Nascimento and Jacqueline James.
The workshop was declared open by Minister of Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony who admitted that Guyana is indeed lagging behind and needs to embrace change.
“We have to move on,” said Anthony. “Not teaching the athletes the new techniques of training and embracing science as a tool to improve will just keep us where we are.”
Anthony added: “We have to invest and we have to develop programmes and we feel workshops like this one will help us to effect change.”
The opening ceremony was attended by members of the GOA, NSC, members of sporting bodies, coaches and other stake holders.
