Coach of the Police Youth Club and the Guyana Police Force, Lyndon Wilson, has made a case for being named National Sports Commission Coach-of-the-Year when the award ceremony comes up in March, following his recent accomplishment in securing his second Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Coach-of-the-Year award.
Wilson started coaching in the Olympic year of 1996 and has now produced Guyana’s first locally-based athlete to participate in the 2012 London Olympics in Winston George, making a valid claim to his second straight AAG Coach-of-the-Year award.
This crucial factor of producing Guyana’s first locally-based Olympian will most likely make Wilson the front runner for the National Sports Commission (NSC) Coach-of-the-Year honour.
Stabroek Sport caught up with Wilson and questioned him on his views about capturing Guyana’s highest coaching award.
“Personally I leave that for the public and the selection committee to judge. We as a club had a lot of success this year at various major meets with the exception of Inter-Services where we lost by one point but we won most.
“There were a lot of sacrifices I put into 2011 and I don’t think it should go unnoticed and whether I win the coach-of-the-year or not but being recognized at that level would be great for me,” Wilson told Stabroek Sport in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
Wilson who has also coached numerous Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) teams to first place finishes, explained that his success with George was basically experimental as he saw great potential in the 400 metres specialist.
“Well let me be honest, George is only in his third year, knowing his mom and her strong will I encouraged him to join and take up the challenge but none of us saw Olympics in the picture.
“It was just about getting him out to try something, knowing his background, but one of the things I can say about George is that whenever he steps out there to compete is that he is always looking for competition, so that was a plus for me with him,” Wilson said.
While coaching George to Olympic standards is the greatest feat Wilson accomplished last year, the 44- year-old coach has also done well by winning major competitions in Guyana, namely the Digicel sponsored under-23 championships and the President/Jefford Track Classic.
Wilson has also coached policemen and women to several new police records at their annual sports while producing nine out of the 26 athletes who attended last year’s Inter-Guiana Games (IGG); the most by any club for the games.
However, Wilson’s only falter during last year was his heartbreaking one- point loss to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) at the annual Joint Services Sports and while this might seem as a blemish in his successful year, he can still be congratulated for helping last year’s Joint Services Championships to be the most competitive and intense of its kind. Notably, last year’s edition was decided by the outcome of the final event which was the javelin throw.
Natasha Alder
Further, Wilson is also credited with producing the most versatile field event athlete of this era in Natasha Alder, who this year claimed her second straight AAG female Athlete-of-the-Year award for her successful exploits in the triple and long jump along with the javelin event. She is also a part-time 100 metres sprinter and discus thrower whenever called upon by her club or at Joint Services.
“Alder is a dedicated and very hard working athlete, so it’s easy to coach her because she listens and does her work even if my attention is on other athletes at any particular time,” Wilson said.
Stabroek Sport also got Wilson to talk about coaching in Guyana, especially since he was the AAG’s most successful coach.
“Coaching in Guyana is a difficult task because of some of the things we don’t have readily at hand. If we need material it’s very costly and I can tell you as a coach I spend a lot of money on materials… so these are things that are very challenging.
“One of the things in Guyana compared to my other colleagues in the Caribbean countries is that we are not being paid as a coach. Myself and colleagues here, we are just doing it voluntarily and the respect that we are getting is not up there with those who are getting paid to do it but I love what I’m doing and nothing is going to withhold me from doing it,” he stated.
Wilson is a Level Three coach and is also qualified by the International Olympic Committee through a coaching course in Hungary and Stabroek Sport got this AAG Coach-of-the-Year to share his perspective on the way forward for Guyana in athletics.
“Basically I think 2011 was a great year for athletics but for us to move forward I think one of the things that is in the making is the synthetic track which I have to thank central government for seeing the need to build one because it will be good in the rainy weather, so one of the ways forward would be the completion of the stadium as early as possible because the use of the road can cause soreness.
“You see training on grass is good but at the end of the day you got to get that transition for that type of surface along with more overseas trips for the athletes which I heard the president (Colin Boyce, president of the AAG) mention at the awards ceremony.”
Wilson also maintained that coaches in Guyana have to come together in order to realize the potential of athletes and take athletics in Guyana to another level.
