Jones wants education, health and financial aid for athletes
As this year of sporting activities kicks into motion, the Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, is pushing to have health, education and financial aid for national athletes taken under the control of the Government.
(front row from left) Director of Sports Christopher Jones, Commissioner to the National Sports Commission, Lavern Fraser and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Ivan Persaud. (back row from left) Emmanuel Archibald, Alque Stanley, Natrina Hooper and Owen Adonis.
Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, Jones related that this is something that he has always envisioned since assuming office in 2015 and is a part of the roadmap he sets for the National Sports Commission (NSC).
“We want to see this [scholarships] being adopted by the Ministry of Education, where once a student athlete reaches the age of 17, the Government will provide a scholarship for that athlete to attend the University of Guyana,” the director related.
In 2016, the NSC revealed that it would be keeping its promise to have a national athletes’ database constructed and based on the records of this database, athletes will be selected from the various disciplines and weighed on their achievements.
The Director of Sport added that not only does he want to see athletes on the database being educated, but “we want these student athletes we have in our database have preferential treatment at our health facilities,” going on to explain the scenario that “while during practices or whatever the case be he or she obtain injuries, they can go to any of the government medical institution where treatment will be administered.”
Also, one of the visions for the upward movement of sports in the country is the financial aid afforded to athletes to travel and compete abroad.
“If a requirement is needed for them to travel abroad, it comes under the responsibility of the Government of Guyana,” Jones said he hopes to one day become a reality.
The reason, he argued, is that “this in itself give parents peace of mind that they know for sure that if their son or daughter is participating in sports at the end of the road or in the future, he or she can attend the University of Guyana, therefore they have to continue in sports and they have to have their academics up kept. As well as if they obtain injuries by virtue of being in this programme, the Government of Guyana takes this responsibility, all of this is part and parcel of setting up this database in 2016 and now the district structure in 2017 of course all of this is tied to and keeping with the setting up of facilities across the country.”
The NSC created history in 2016 by affording athletes for the first time, scholarships to study abroad. The athletes were awarded scholarships to study at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus and GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport in Jamaica to the tune of $4 million each, for four years.
The recipients include three athletes and one Physical Education teacher from the St Rose’s High School.
Twenty-year-old Owen Adonis, who specialises in the 100 and 200-metres races, is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Management Studies. Emmanuel Archibald 22, who is a 100-metre race athlete, is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology, while 25-year old Natrina Hooper specialises in a number of disciplines which include triple jump, long jump, and the 100 and 400-metre races. She is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Gender Development studies. However, Alque Stanley, the Physical Education Teacher, is the first ever Guyanese to be awarded a scholarship in the capacity of teacher.
