With the help of corporate funding, Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) President Alfred Mentore intends to package and sell women’s cricket in order to raise the standard of women’s play in Georgetown and by extension Demerara. Speaking to Stabroek Sport Mentore admitted that currently the structure is weak as it relates to the administration of women’s cricket and much more will be done since they are plans in the pipeline.
He reasoned that since there is movement of the game at the club level the schools will be an ideal base to get the process started.
Mentore, who is up for re-election on January 27 when the GCA holds its Annual General Meeting at the Georgetown Cricket Club pavilion, said that this process may not be implemented with immediate effect.
He explained that his organization will have to do its feasibility studies and based on the feedback they receive the executives of the GCA will draft a plan to get sponsors on board. Mentore contends that clubs with structures in place for women’s cricket can also adopt school teams where there can be paid coaches working within the school system.
He said that persons in 2010 would see a more conscious effort on the part of the GCA to diversify since he believes an elevated level in Georgetown will be an elevated level in Demerara which would make Guyana the eventual “benefactor”.
On the other hand, he believes there needs to be more planning and better policies at the higher level for the situation to be improved.
He noted that the relationship between the GCA and governing body, Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), is a “workable one”.
He said that his organization is willing to work with the GCB to implement certain systems to have their programme move from the embryonic stage to a work in progress. He noted that his organization realizes that women have not been given the same attention as the men but a number of factors are responsible for that.
However, his organization will be seeking to organize more cricket for the under-15 and under-17 cricketers. He said that is also a sore point and hopefully at some later time the GCA will be looking to launch a two or three-day tournament for the young cricketers. He repeated that he wants to see the youngsters learning the rudiments of the game which would in turn contribute to their own development and the development of Guyana’s cricket. He said that his organization is only interested in the development of cricket and keeping the youths from falling by the wayside.
