Nicolette Fernandes is without doubt one of the hardest working, most dedicated athletes in our country’s history. There is a determination present in her that is truly admirable and she stands out like a beacon for other athletes to emulate. Her story reads like a Hollywood script of true grit and bravery in the face of what for many others would have been a career-ending injury. Not so Nicolette – she refused to roll over and embarked on a prolonged struggle to return to the top of her sport. Not an easy task given the magnitude of the injury, especially in a sport that is so fiercely competitive. And struggle she did, clawing her way all the way back to a ranking of sixty-two, no small feat considering that her injury had seen her fall to #243 from an initial position of 27th in the world rankings. She has fought unrelentingly for over two years.
Whilst this battle raged on, across town in somewhat more obscure surroundings, another young valiant female athlete was locked in a struggle of her own. Boxing professionally from the age of eighteen, Shondell Alfred had carved out a promising career which had seen her campaigning in Canada and Denmark and closer to home in Trinidad and Barbados. The tenacity and determination with which she entered every contest saw her beat Trinidadian Vicky Boodram to become the WIBA Iberian-American Champion, adding this title to her existing title as the female Bantamweight Champion of Guyana. Then Shondell took time out of her beloved sport to do something of immense importance. She needed time to have her baby and spend the time necessary to be with him through his infancy. Not an easy decision given her love of the sport. This done, she was soon back in the gym determined to get back in shape for a title shot that she knew she was in line for. Her tune-up fight on April 25, 2009 was a brutal affair. Her old rival Stephanie George turned in a career best performance. A bloodied and severely swollen but unanimously victorious Shondell together with her valiant rival ended their evening at the Georgetown hospital at the insistence of the ringside doctor, with suspected concussions. A scant five months later, her long awaited opportunity arrived in the form of Corinne Van Ryck de Groot, an accomplished undefeated southpaw fighter whose fame preceded her. Shondell had earned a chance to fight de Groot by virtue of their #1 and #2 contender status, for the vacant prestigious WIBA Bantamweight title of the world. Though a wonderful opportunity, she knew well that capitalizing was going to be no easy task. De Groot was strong, known for her aggression, a naturally bigger, taller fighter and worse – a southpaw. When the bell rang, Shondell’s own courage was undaunted in the face of a skilled opponent and she fought the early rounds with the tenacity that she had become known for. But the fight was far from over and only enormous grit and determination saw her stave off a late surging de Groot intent on knocking her out, to lift the world title.
On September 26, 2009, in front of a packed Sports Hall, Shondell Alfred became the best 118 lb female fighter in the world. Number one in the world.
The glaring parallels between these two women (Fernandes and Alfred) are unmistakable. Both endowed with quiet, unobtrusive personalities and each given easily to beautiful and personable flashing smiles, they each enjoy a tremendous and very evident, strong family support mechanism. It is virtually impossible to see either compete without seeing their parents but scant feet away. So too with their local fans. It is easy to appreciate, simply by observing the inspiration that they bring to those around them, the mettle of these two women. All Guyanese should be justifiably proud of them both.
The selectors for the National Award for Sportswoman and Sportsman of the year are charged, simply by virtue of their appointment, with an enormous task. Enormous because it measures and recognizes at the highest possible national level, the achievements of our athletes over a specific twelve-month period of time. Enormous because it necessarily requires not just a vague familiarity but rather an in-depth knowledge of each sport and demands the dedication to investigate independently and carefully, the achievement of each nominated athlete in contexts relative to the sport on a national level, on an international level, on its social significance and in terms of the likely negative or positive impact of the award on the sport itself, and of course of the individual performance of the athlete in question. It is unmistakably an award that is treasured and valued by both athlete and sport as the highest national point of any career. Tears stream down the faces of athletes standing on the podium. It is inescapable, even to the most unobservant, that those tears are triggered not by the win but rather by the playing of their national anthems. Recognition by your own country and knowing that you have brought honour to it, threatens to burst even the most hardened and seasoned of hearts with pride. I will wager that this intrinsic motivation dwells at the very core and fibre of every great and successful athlete.
The national sports award of any nation is not to be taken lightly. Because of its overwhelming significance, it is often a yardstick by which an athlete and a sport will judge itself, its progress, its social significance and contribution to the development of the nation – indeed, its value. The award is often perceived as a nation’s approval rating for effort and result, the latter being the measure of the success of the former. Notably it is the result that is rewarded and not just the effort. The ultimate measure therefore is the extent of the result. Acceptance of an appointment as a selector should bring with it therefore an understanding and acceptance of these responsibilities, together with an understanding that the highest level of integrity must be maintained at all times. By acceptance of the appointment, the selector becomes duty bound to carry out his or her responsibilities in a thorough and competent manner. The significance of the award demands no less.
Dereliction of duty in a civilian context generally refers to a failure to discharge the obligations of one’s appointment. It is a failure to perform assigned duties in a satisfactory manner. It is a reasonable expectation on the part of the Director of Sport that having appointed a suitable person to the position of selector that that person would have at least acquainted himself or herself with the duties and responsibilities of that position, and would therefore have accepted the appointment in good faith and in full knowledge of the obligations therewith.
Two Saturdays back, on February 13, the newspapers announced the decision of the selectors for National Sportswoman of the year for 2009, and the landslide victory of the recipient – Nicolette Fernandes. Landslide in this case refers to the overwhelming majority of the selectors’ votes. What the selectors said effectively is that Nicollette’s #62 ranking in the world in her sport was considered in their estimation to be of considerably, by virtue of the landslide, greater value than Shondell’s #1 ranking in the world in her sport.
I must admit I spent the weekend in the foulest of moods, casting about for some rational explanation but arriving unfortunately at more or less the same dark conclusions as the rest of the country’s boxing community which had deluged me with irate opinions since the news release. The rather bright picture of the selectors that accompanied the Chronicle’s article did not help. Perception in many minds quickly became reality and I found myself inundated by that perception.
In stark contrast, this has come at a time when the Minister of Sport and the Director of Sport have gone to unprecedented lengths to help to rebuild the amateur boxing ranks, and together we have managed to forge a relationship which we feel will, in the not too distant future, yield Olympic gold for our country. Indeed the launching of Guyana Fight Night, a monthly pro-am card which will be televised live across the nation is but a few days away. The inauguration of this much anticipated event will be stark testimony to the support of the Ministry of Sport. And as if entirely oblivious to the fine efforts of the ministry, the selectors made a statement that appeared to say to young boxers, ‘Even if you become the World Champion, we will not consider your accomplishment sufficient to win a national award.’
It is noteworthy that many Olympic medallists in boxing go on to become world champions. World Champion is therefore a step up from an Olympic medal. If becoming a world champion in boxing is considered as being less of an achievement than ranking #62 in squash and cannot secure a national award, then an Olympic medal in boxing would surely be considered as very near worthless. So the young boxers are correct when they remark – why bother? This single decision, worsened tenfold by its proudly announced landslide, threatens to undermine all of the combined efforts of the ministry, the Amateur Boxing Board and the Professional Boxing Board to motivate our youngsters in a sport that has earned Guyana its only Olympic medal to date in this country’s history.
There are people on that selection committee for whom I have the greatest regard. I called a number of them to register how disheartening their decision had been to the entire boxing community. Those calls left me with a much better idea of how this committee functioned. They had made their decisions based apparently on written submissions by member bodies. The summary of the achievements of the nominees was the full extent of the information by which they would make their decision. Therefore, the best written and most voluminous summary counted for more than a simple two-page document listing the facts of the achievement. As best as I could discern, no independent attempt of any kind was done by any selector on any athlete or any achievement. Certainly no call or enquiry of any kind was made to any boxing authority or any member of the boxing community. Shondell was apparently only a two-pager. The two pages said that she had won the world title but apparently there were much more impressive twenty-pagers clearly displaying much greater embellishment of lesser achievements.
I don’t believe that I have missed a single fight in Guyana in the past sixteen years, and I do not recall ever having seen any of these selectors at a fight card except for the Director of Sport who attends regularly and the Chairman, who I believe attends occasionally. I strongly suspect that a number of them have never actually seen a live fight. Given these circumstances, it is not difficult to understand how this process went so dreadfully wrong.
The difficulty is that insulated in their blanket of landslide and unanimous, this level of disservice is likely to continue unchecked. As there is no pressure as far as I can see on these people to discharge their obligations in the way that they should, there is obviously no end in sight. Any one of them who truly believes that #62 in the world is better than #1 in the world displays in my opinion, either bias or an impaired level of judgment entirely inconsistent with the responsibilities which they agreed to undertake. Further, anyone who votes on a national committee that #62 in the world is better than #1 in the world displays in my opinion, an extraordinary disrespect for the intelligence of the people he/she represents and the community at large. Gross dereliction of duty is the most generous explanation that I can find for what in my opinion amounted to an unconscionable decision.
Nicolette has earned by hard work and talent, every accolade and award she has ever gotten up to this point. I am convinced that she neither needs nor expects handouts, and if her personal pride is consistent with the grace and dignity with which she carries herself then this award will be as uncomfortable for her as it was humiliating for Shondell.
Shondell sadly, is left to contemplate how to lift her game past #1 in the world.
We have managed, I think, to embarrass two of our premier female athletes all in one ‘foul’ swoop.
Surely, this country’s athletes and sporting community deserve better than this.
Yours faithfully,
Peter Abdool
