Despite the Covid-19 pandemic forcing the shutdown of the local footballing landscape, emerging Golden Jaguars centre-half Kevin Layne stated that he remains mentally focused in anticipation of the eventual resumption of the discipline.
This was disclosed during an exclusive interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Layne, 22, “I am very focused and excited for football to resume. Right now I am home and while I can’t do much in terms of training, I am very focused and excited for football to resume. When you are accustomed to doing certain things, it’s hard for your body to adjust to other things and while it’s very difficult at the moment with the social distancing and the curfew, I am focused on getting back on the field and really want the football to resume because I miss it and my colleagues.”
Asked about the training regimen he currently employs to maintain a level of fitness, Layne, who has been capped nine times for the senior programme and thrice at the U17 level, said, “I often go for jogs and do pushups and abdominals just to try and keep in shape. After all you can’t fully be in shape because of the situation. Basically I am doing some form of workouts to maintain a little fitness.”
Layne, who plies his trade for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) in the GFF Elite League, stated that the ongoing pandemic will have a severe impact on the immediate future of the sport, adding, “The current situation is having a major impact in the country and with not much being done for sport, it is kind of difficult and a lot of work will have to be done when the pandemic is finished and everything returns to normal. It’s a very big gap that is being created and it will be challenging but we have to do what we have to do and help each other get through it.”
He opined that tremendous work will be required at the national team level to get the locally based players match ready, noting “It’s very difficult with the amount of work we will have to put in. We don’t play as much as the overseas players and as a local player that has been training four times a week, when it’s time to go back out it will be challenging. First off, the fitness will not be up to par and the type of training you get at the club will be different from the national team so the local players won’t be able to get back to full fitness.”
According to Layne, his presence as a member of the national team serves as an inspiration for the younger players from the ancient country of Berbice. He elaborated, “It’s a huge impact to be a local player on the national team. With consistency and patience it can happen. As the saying goes, ‘good things come to those who wait and I would advise youngsters because I have been through the ranks and even if you don’t make it at first, it’s not the end of the road. You can’t allow people to doubt you and you have to overcome that. I can serve as an inspiration to them that it can’t be done. Berbice never had many players in recent years in the national team and I see myself as an inspirational figure for the youngsters. Once I can make it anyone can make it, you just have to go out and do your best and everything will fall into place.”
