On Friday Chase Academy accomplished a three-peat when the learning institution prevailed to win the North Zone title of the Digicel Schools Football Championship for a third successive year.
Henry ChaseJeremy Garrett
The accolade is just one of the many the school has achieved since its Director; Henry Chase implemented a sport scholarship initiative to boost the institution’s sport programme four years ago. Among the major tournaments CA has won are; three times Milo football champions, the National Secondary School Cricket League (NSSCL) and the Digicel School’s football Championship in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
CA has wealth of talent in the Table Tennis department and can boast of having a Caribbean gold medalist.
The accomplishment of the school’s sport programme is arguably incomparable to any other learning institution and sport federation and association locally.
However, it comes at a cost of more than 5 million dollars annually according to the Director.
Guyana Times was fortunate to secure an exclusive interview with Henry Chase.
GTS- You have taken off on an initiative to invest in the country’s future in sport what prompted this?
HC-I believe it is an input from God. Many of the things I do is done with vision and one that has obviously been bestowed on me by the almighty, and with that in mind, coupled with experiences over the years. I have seen that we have many talented people in this country and nothing is really done to assist them and it breaks my heart to see that they are not treated the way they should be, and for that reason it prompted me to get involve to do something at the school level. And we know that in order to prepare for the future we must start the teachings in school, especially if we want to address some of the dysfunction in our society things must start at the school level.
GTS-What do you think you are doing different to achieve success as compared to the many sport federations, associations, etc. that seem to be lacking vision?
HC- Leadership for me, I believe is a gift and if you don’t have that gift then the bible states a nation without a vision will perish. And what is happening if you look at many of the organisations that we have in this country, even sporting bodies, the people that are there should not be there because they add nothing to the organization, they add nothing of value to what they do. But if you have people with a passion and vision then even if you have scarce resources, success will come because it is the person/s behind the organization and not generally the resources. So even if I don’t have resources, whatever I have I will make it work. We exist by the grace of God but what I do have is a clear vision and a passion.
GTS-What would you generally say about the level of sport in Guyana?
HC-Obviously we have had some slight improvement. I said the word slight because we have had some successes recently. I believe there is a far way to go, the world is ahead of us, and it will take some real creative and talented people in the different disciplines to drive sport. I honestly believe that we need a sporting body that is functioning. We need someone with a drive that could take sport to another level. There is a lot more I believe that government can do to get involve in sport, for instance, I am hearing this might be the last Digicel tournament. I would love for the Government to replace Digicel if they withdraw their sponsorship, so to see the continuation of the competition. We waste billions on fruitless projects, but I do not comprehend why we do not seem to want to invest in young people. So I honestly believe if sport is going to move ahead in Guyana, we need a vigorous drive especially at the school level where our raw talents are identified and put the right system to help to foster development in the school.
GTS-What period are you comparing when you use the term “slight improvement”.
HC-I am talking 2017. Well actually if you look at it this year, Daniel Williams won silver in the 400m at the IAAF U-18 championship, we have young Compton Caesar who won gold at the CARIFTA Games and South America U-20 Championships, Claudreis McKoy a Chase student who won gold at CARIFTA in the 1500, our national youth footballers who won a tournament in St. Maarten. I think those are baby steps to show that we have talent and I have always been saying this for years. We have talent at the junior level but there is no planning. Like I heard when McCoy came back from CARIFTA Games, talks about her going to the University of Guyana. To do what? She is a champion athlete there is no sporting programme at UG. I heard about the scholarships which I think is noble for our athletes but how many athletes will be able to reach the requirement to enter UG. Not many of them because there is no support system to work with these athletes, who are mostly poor and are not cognitively inclined. So what we need to do is to get into the homes, we need to fix them, work with both the athletes and their parents.
GTS-To date would you say that the sport scholarship programme has been projecting how you imagine it would?
HC- Yes. My objective over the years has been to bring the best athletes to one institution, also to acquire the best teachers to teach them. It is a known fact that everybody is not a teacher. A teacher is someone who will inspire you. A teacher is someone who can see potential when nobody else could see that. So what I do is bring the best teachers, having them work with these athletes because many of the athletes have been condition not to like school. And if you leave them in their traditional environment then teachers might not understand them. Teachers might not have the skills to teach them. By coming over here I have seen some success. I have seen nine of Chase’s students make up the U-17 Guyana Football team. I’ve seen six our players gained call up to senior trials to play against Martinique and then I have seen young McKoy, Samuel Lynch have done well at CARIFTA. Young Ashmead Nedd is now the captain of the Guyana U-17 team. Young Joshua Persaud is in South Africa with the West Indies U-19 team. Young Sachin Singh has been selected to represent the West Indies youth team for the U-16 tour of England later this year. And my list could go on young (Kaysan) Ninvalle was voted junior sportsman of the year. Young Jeremy Garrett is close to taking up a stint in football in Portugal. So I am happy with the way things are turning out, but what is happening, I realized that corporate Guyana do not support sport and young people. The programme we have at Chase, any civilized country in the world would have come on board to assist us to develop young people.
We are talking about crime? This is an opportunity to invest in young people especially those at risk youth that love sport and can see a life through sport.
GTS-Can you tell me about the athletes’ performances in the classrooms, especially since attending your institution?
HC- Well it is a tough question, because by the time the athletes get to Chase they would be like 15 or 16 years of age. There are some of them that are already bent that school is not for them, and then they have no support system at home. But then again we have some success stories; last year we had our best with Jeremy Garrett who had nine CSEC subjects. He is writing two CAPE subjects this year, Caribbean and Communication Studies. We have Claudreis and Lynch who wrote nine and six CSEC subjects respectively this year and Ralph Parris with seven this year. Those are student athletes that can actually perform well. Also we have my son Orande Chase, who is a cricketer of the school and DCC cricket club that wrote CSEC English in form two and got a Grade One at 13 years old. Also we are trying to change the culture in Guyana where it is believe when you play sport it take away from your academics. I prove that to be false. In fact when you are involved in sport it adds energy to your conative growth and development.
GTS- So would you say the school and the athletes have benefitted equally from the sport initiative?
HC-There is balance, but also it is something new that we are trying in Guyana and with everything new there will be opposition, there will be criticism. In time we will see the benefits and we have had cases at the school that proved that sport and academics can simultaneously go hand in hand. So yes the school is excelling and athletes are developing.
GTS- I have noticed your presence at the launch of many sport events, why do you show so much interest?
HC- Passion! The Love! It is like having a commitment; you go out of your way to fulfill your obligations. There is no way my school could be playing in a tournament and I am not there. I would witness school tournaments and no one from the ministry is present to see these games.
GTS- Do you think the local associations, federations and government are doing enough for sport?
HC- No, but who am I to tell them that because in their opinion they are. They accept their mediocrity as excellence. I am not talking about a photo opt. I am speaking about getting systems in place to get things done.
GTS- Since it is vivid the Government is not doing enough, if you had a chance to advise them what would you urge them to do?
HC- I would tell them to get a budget every year that would disperse sums of money to run effective tournaments involving schools. They must invest in our young people. The government support is vital for the development of sport.
GTS- What would you say to the associations and federations that are performing poorly?
HC- Well, first they must love Guyana, then the sport, if not they would never do anything right. For instance they recently had a females (cricket) tournament with nine players showing up for a team; poorly organized. But when you tell organisers they are doing a bad job they feel you are attacking them. So the bottom line of these associations and federations’ issue is they need people who love and know about sport that could be bedrock of launching a vision or policy to develop sport.
GTS-Please shine some light as to who are some of the players that have or are benefitting from your programme?
HC- Currently in the programme we have Sachin Singh, Dwayne Dick, Tyrell Khan, Jermaine Garrett, Ninvalle, Nedd and the list goes on. We have a good blend from form 1 right up to six form. We could attract even more but due to financial constraints we are limited to what we have.
GTS-Are you supported in any form by the government?
HC- No we are not.
GTS- Are you satisfied with the level of our junior athletes as compare with the standard of our regional counterparts?
HC- No I am not happy. We need to make the parents understand the benefits of sport whether it be social, healthy or the rewards they could gain from just their participation among many other worrying factors.
GTS-If you are to put a cost to the work you have done so far in your school’s sport scholarship programme what would it be?
HC- It would be millions. Per year it is an investment over five million dollars. It is a real tough order.
GTS- Can you shed some light into the school’s performance in the Digicel School Championships for 2017?
HC- Obviously we are happy to have won the North Zone for the tournament for a third successive year. That doesn’t happen overnight, it call for investment. We do not wait for a tournament to put together a team. A system is in place where the athletes are supervised by a coach.
GTS- Where do you want to reach with this initiative?
HC- To see Guyana qualify for a World Cup (football) and to see the players from my academy featuring, at least one or two. To see somebody from Chase dominate the Olympics. When I would have achieved that I could close down my programme with athletics because it is too costly.
