Athletic club engaged by Minister Ramson and former NFL player Willie Gault

– youths, coach get advice on training, other techniques

Athletes of the Running Brave Athletic Club were engaged by Culture, Youth, and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, former American National Football League (NFL) wide receiver Willie James Gault, and other officials at the synthetic track and field facility, Leonora, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), on Thursday.

Minister Ramson said that the NFL player would be conducting and examining training techniques with the athletes and coaches.
“Just to kind of shape how you are going to be training, what are some of the things you are going to be doing, what you should be doing in the future as well. Because his experience is different from your experience. He has a wealth of knowledge that is going to be important; if you take it, it will help to fast-track your careers,” the Minister said.
He emphasised that Gault’s vast knowledge and techniques would help to build and develop the athletes into the strongest and fastest versions of themselves.
“We want to see that Guyana is able to become, really, amongst the best in the world. But you are not going to be able to do it if you are not training with, like, the best. He has very special information, the techniques, the drills, a lot of the science information that you can rely on, and even some of the links that might be important to advancing your careers, ” Ramson Jr pointed out.

Gault told the athletes that dedication, efficiency, proper techniques, and commitment were integral in sports. The former NFL player said that the Coach has done well with the athletes and the techniques.
“The Coach has done an amazing job. I was really impressed by their techniques. I just made a couple changes for the original standdown…the running technique was really amazing. I’m quite, quite impressed by what I saw and the athletes are really good and they are training hard.
“I challenge them to actually do their best, work hard, and never look back and say I wish I had tried,” Gault said.
Coach, Sham Johnny noted that the gesture by Minister Ramson for the athletes to be engaged by the former NFL player was extremely heartening.
“You cannot be a leader and you’re not exploring and trying to improve good governance and who knows Mr Ramson knows that anything he tries to do is always professional…it is really a great gesture for me,” he said.
Several of the athletes expressed their elation to be receiving training from Gault.
Athaleyha Hinckson said, “I am very grateful for the visit. He came and gave us some advice that I can work on to better my starts and my workouts.”

Shaneka Campbell expressed that she chose sports since she was inspired by Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She noted that track and field would help her to develop further. Karese Lloyd highlighted that the coaching session with Gault was fantastic.
She said, “You know, it is always good to have someone come, so we can have more information. Well, he teaches us on our starts and everything. It is good for somebody from overseas, you know who is a professional, so that he can come and help us to educate us on new and old things that we already know.”
Meanwhile, another athlete, Shaqwuan Nelson, stated, “we are grateful for the knowledge that he gave us and we plan on using it to further our careers and going on the big stage.”
Gault has played in the NFL for 11 seasons for the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Raiders. He is considered to be one of the fastest NFL players. Athletics Association of Guyana President Aubrey Hutson and Guyana Boxing Association President Steve Ninvalle were also in attendance. (DPI)