Newly appointed Director of Sport, Christopher Jones is guaranteeing an ocean of changes that will see organizations and athletes benefiting from the positive ripple effects.
Fresh off his appointment yesterday, Jones sat down with Stabroek Sport’s Emmerson Campbell and had an in-depth discussion on a number of topics. The topics included the sports policy, funding, upgrading of sports facilities, the Inter Guiana Games and what can be expected from the National Sports Commission within the first 100 days.
Following is the interview…
EC: So what can the sportsmen and women expect from the new sports director?
CJ: A young vibrant Director of Sports whose office will always be opened to hear their concerns that they will likely have. Experienced as an opposition member of parliament, there were several complaints from members in the sports fraternity and I think being present in this office gives them some sense of reassurance that for them someone is there to look into their interest and work with them.
EC: What positive changes can we look forward to in the first 100 days?
CJ: I really don’t like the idea of making a pronouncements on the first 100 days as such but within that period persons can expect to see the establishment of a committee which essentially will be looking at the sports policy that we don’t have. There is a draft that never came into being and of course that document will be revisited and where necessary upgraded. Of course this will only be done with the input from the fraternities, the clubs, associations and of course sports personalities that we have out there. We will try as much as possible to have our seniors who know about sports and of course modernize such a document so within the first 100 days I am hopeful that if not a partial, a completed draft can be made public.
Upgrading of Sports Facilities...
CJ: Other things that we will look into in the first 100 days are the Gymnasium, the Sports Hall, the pools and the racquet centre and so forth. Particularly, the Gymnasium and the Sports Hall are in urgent need of rehabilitation work, I don’t know if the amount will exceed our current budget that we can spend to do those works now or we will have to wait until the passage of the national budget. But those facilities will have to be upgraded and modernized, those are some of the main focus within the shortest possible time.
EC: What about funding of cash strapped organizations, clubs etc.?
CJ: As it relates to funding of cash strapped organizations, clubs and so forth, there is a protocol and of course these organizations will have to meet the protocol in order for any funding to be disbursed to them. They will have to show that they have a constitution which guides them, they will have to show minutes of previous meetings, if they have elections to identify their office bearers and so forth. That is the only way we will be able to say that these organizations are in good standing and as such can access funding.
CJ: There are plans that we have here to build capacity so we want to focus heavily on training. For the associations out there, the department will provide trainers who will be able to guide them about standard meeting procedures, how to go about fund raising activities and so forth but of course the department has funds but of course it has to be based on merit.
EC: What is your opinion on sports locally?
CJ: Just being frank, it’s dead. Not literally but it is dead in the sense that the department that is tasked with that responsibility of helping and aiding in coordinating sports activity which should be in collaboration with the fraternities, clubs and associations that are out there, there is almost no relationship between the entities. The place in which sports should be now in Guyana being supported by the ministry was not there. Of course now with the changes we hope to correct that, so quite frankly sports in Guyana is almost dead but of course our aim is to revive that.
EC: Will the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) initiative continue?
CJ: Yes it is set and it will go on stream. The local leg of the games is set for the 6th to the 10th of August and the French Guiana leg is set for the 27th to the 31st of September. Funding for this has already been secured from the 2014 budget.
Jones noted that he was told of the deplorable conditions athletes had to endure while competing at the IGG during the Neil Kumar tenure as the Director of Sport. The newly appointed DOS promised betterment for the athletes.
CJ: I will be personally looking into the accommodation where the Guyana athletes will be housed in French Guiana because of the previous incidents in which the Guyanese athletes had to stay in deplorable conditions for their accommodation. I will not see any of the athletes representing Guyana at any regional or international forum of which their accommodation and other things are not properly in place. In the French Guiana leg I will personally ensure that the accommodation and so forth are in good standing for our athletes.
Jones added that there will be a vibrant focus on Public Relations to target young people.
CJ: It is lacking and perhaps nonexistent and a lot of organizations, clubs, fraternities and people out there don’t know that this department exists and what exactly we do here and what assistance can be garnered from the department so heavy emphasis will be placed on public relations.
Of course those public relations activities will be geared to reach that demographic of people that mostly participate in sports young people so this will be via Facebook, Twitter, websites and other means we can reach our target audience.
