The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), in collaboration with Olympic Solidarity, continues to increase the number of local sports administrators with the main aim of improving sports in Guyana.
In this regard, the GOA has conducted its 19th Sports Administrators Course over the period 18th – 21st October, 2018. The venue for this year’s course was the Guyana Teachers’ Union Conference Centre in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
This has been the fourth occasion that this course has been held outside of Georgetown, and the second time that it has been held at this particular venue. The first such course held outside of Georgetown was conducted there in 2007.
Welcoming the participants at the opening ceremony for this year was done by Course Director Garfield Wiltshire, while overview of the course and opening
The participants take a photo op following conclusion of the Sports Administrators Course
remarks were given by Course Director Claude Blackmore.
This year’s course had 25 participants drawn mainly from the county of Berbice, and several of the “Presenters” came from outside of the list of Certified Course Directors of the Guyana Olympic Association.
The programme saw the return from overseas studies of Nutritionist within the Ministry of Public Health, Abigale Caleb, who lectured on the topic “Importance of Sports Nutrition”, while a newcomer to the programme who hails from the same Ministry was Phychologist Mosa Hutson, who dealt with the topic “Mental Health in Sports”, a topic continued among the participants even after this lecturer had departed.
Similar participants’ reactions were given to a number of other presentations, the most pronounced seemingly one given by Theodore Henry, whose topic, Strength and Conditioning in Sports, saw parts of it where participants had to vacate their seats to do the practical demonstrations.
A jovial part of the course was the bantering among the participants as to who could have been arrested as against those who would have been charged by the Police, as Attorney-at-Law Emily Dodson presented on her topic, Sport and the Law.
Participants also engaged in a panel discussion on “The important role Sports play in the development of Individuals”.
Among the other topics covered were Combining Education and Sports; Governance of a Sports Organisation; Women in Sport; Sports for All; Conducting Meetings/Effective Communication; Values and Ethics in Sports; Planning, Decision Making and Evaluation/Preparing of a budget for a Sports Delegation; Challenges facing Sports in developing Countries; Volunteerism; Government and Sports; the Olympic Movement; Olympic Solidarity and its Programmes; National Team Selection; Budget and Money Management.
Participants had a session in which they dealt with Group Work topics, which were immediately followed by a “Review of their Group Work Topics”, after which the participants wrote an examination. An Evaluation that followed saw Lakeisha Pearson emerging at the top performer, while Robin Leach Wilkinson and Dinesh Roopnarine were second and third respectively.
The closing ceremony was chaired by Taylor-Trim, a Course Director, with Blackmore presenting a “Review of the Course” and Charles Corbin undertaking the duties of Introducing the Guest Speaker, Winifred Heywood, Mayor of New Amsterdam, who delivered the charge to the participants.
