3rd Republic Bank ‘Five for Fun’ tournament launched

75 Primary School Cricket teams, featuring both Boys and Girls, hailing from Guyana’s three counties will soon spring into action as hey compete for top honours in the 3rd Republic Bank Five for Fun Cricket tournament.

A collaborative effort between the Financial institution, Cricket West Indies (CWI), the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and the Ministries of Education and Culture, Youth and Sport; this year’s tournament was officially launched at the Herdmanston lodge, Queenstown on Thursday morning.

There, Republic Bank Guyana’s Commercial Manager Harry Dass Ghaness shared the Company’s passion for the tournament, describing it as a positive tool to improve young lives.
“Today, Republic Bank stands proudly behind this powerful idea, using the power of sports to positively shape young lives. Sports instills crucial values and life skills in our Nation’s youth, such as discipline, team work and a healthy lifestyle. That is why we are so passionate about initiatives like the Five for Fun programme. We firmly believe that investing in our youth is investing in the future of our nation. This programme which is part of our Power to make a difference social investment initiative under the Power to learn and power to succeed pillars, continues to make a positive impact on our youth,” Ghaness expressed.
Speaking to the merit of the tournament was Cricket west Indies Director and GCB Secretary Ronald Williams, who also took the time to praise Republic Bank’s diverse sponsorship in the sport.

Williams remarked, “Many sponsors are pretty much piggy backing on established cricket. So, they go after the highly favoured and most popular T20 Cricket, the CPL. Of course, we know Republic Bank is a sponsor of CPL but Republic Bank did eve better than that, they went down to the grassroot level and created this Five for Fun concept.”
“Now, the term Five for Fun in neither accidental nor incidental, it goes to where Cricket should be developed from, at age 12 and under, to inculcate in our youngsters, a passion and understanding for the game which some may feel is more than just a game. It’s a part of our West Indian upbringing, a part of our culture, a part of our development, a part of our national welfare,” the CWI Director further enlightened.
Highlighting the Education Ministry’s five- priority programme[where involvement in a sport, music, volunteerism, cultivation of a skill and fluency in a foreign language is encouraged] , Deputy Chief Education Officer (DCEO) Dr. Ritesh Tularam divulged that the Five for Fun initiative helps the Ministry execute this mandate.
“The five- priority areas, as I’ve mentioned is carefully networked into this whole initiative of Five for Fun cricket and over the years, as I would’ve said, the Ministry of Education fully endorsed and supported this initiative and we will continue to work closely with our partners in Education to ensure that we foster and strengthen our partnerships and collaboration so that we could realise our National vision for the Ministry of Education and by extension, what is the national vision set out by the Government of Guyana,” Dr. Tularam noted.
The Primary School teams will first compete in their counties Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice after which the top teams from the county will come up against each other in the National final.