– Jones rolls out plan to develop young sportsmen/women nationwide
By Michelangelo Jacobus
Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, has revealed in an exclusive interview with Guyana Times Sport that the National Sports Commission (NSC) has planned, by 2018, to target the nurturing of various sporting disciplines throughout Guyana, starting from the primary school level.
“The Guyana Teachers Union has a district structure by which Guyana has been broken up into 15 different districts. The National Sports Commission has now adopted that district structure, and what we are looking to do now is to hire coaches and organizers residing in those particular districts to work in a cluster system.
“We will identify schools from the primary level that fall within those districts, and, on a daily basis, those coaches and organizers will be at a particular ground; and let’s say Form One (Grade 7) will be at a particular ground, doing a particular sport training from 9am to 10am. And then there is another group that will come from 10-11; so, throughout an entire week, all of the students in the primary school system will be exposed to six different sport disciplines…” he explained.
Disciplines such as Archery are on the National Sports Commission’s radar for development
Jones noted that in addition to mainstream sport disciplines, a special programme tailored to suit the peculiar geographical configuration of regions that are not coastal will be introduced to areas outside of the coastland region.
“Outside of the regions that run along the coastline, there will be a specific programme that will be rolled out for those in the hinterland regions; for example, Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine. (This is) due to those regions’ geographic spread and what (each of those regions) has there. There will be students trained in kayaking (and) students trained in archery. Football of course will be part of it, but archery and kayaking are the programmes that we will be introducing to those hinterland regions.
“There is hope and expectation that those student athletes will form part of the National Sports Database, and this is a collaborative effort that has to be had with the students, teachers, and of course the parents. Once they ensure that their children keep their grades up, once they continue in a particular sport discipline, the NSC will provide incentives in the form of scholarships to them.”
This is in the hope of smooth transitioning of student athletes from the primary to the secondary level, and ultimately to the tertiary level, according to Jones. He maintained that this is all part of the NSC’s initiative, to ensure that the nation’s athletes can have a sound academic foundation while nurturing effective development in sports.
“We hope that thereafter, moving from the primary school system into the secondary system, the foundation will be there academically and sports-wise. Working, then, with various sports association at the secondary school level, these incentives — scholarships to attend the University of Guyana — because of the foundations that would have been had at the primary level, they would be easily transitioned over to the University level,” Jones explained.
The rationale that underpins this initiative has to do with the assessment that while Guyana has produced some outstanding athletes in more recent times, not enough has been done to ensure that a solid academic background is afforded those athletes.
