Kashif Muhammad for Director of Youth and Sport

Dear Editor,
The urgency of having a competent and dedicated National Director of Youth and Sport cannot be understated. In Kashif Muhammad, we have someone who, in regard to sports and organising sporting events, has shown a passion that is unequalled in Guyana.
Back in the early 1990s, I went to Linden to watch the finals of the biggest local sporting event in Guyana, which was promoted by the Kashif and Shanghai partnership. During that period, I was a dual national player in basketball and hockey; however, my trip to the mining town was to be a spectator to the greatest domestic sporting event in Guyana – The National Football Club Championships.
The Mackenzie Sports Club had a massive turnout to watch the young Guyanese football stars. One of those star players was Collie Hercules, one of Guyana’s very best footballers and a beneficiary of the National Club Tournament. The Kashif & Shanghai Knockout Tournament is featured in Wikipedia, I think a first for a domestic sporting event.
Before the finals commenced, I heard my name being called by the announcer. Apparently, the announcer was asked to acknowledge the presence of other national athletes attending the event. That little gesture spoke volumes about the Kashif and Shanghai group and the high esteem and respect they show athletes.
These are leaders who care, who recognise the financial and other resource challenges most young athletes face to be active and successful in sports. Cricket, Basketball, Hockey, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Badminton, and of course football; make your pick, once you attend feature games for these sporting disciplines, you are likely to see Kashif in attendance.
Persons who demonstrate a passion for multiple sporting disciplines and have proven organisational and marketing skills should not be sidelined when available, especially when there is extreme need for someone to lead the National Sports Commission out of its dysfunctional state.
It is easy to go on about the many accomplishments of Kashif Muhammad; however, what stuck with me over the decades is that the events he managed were well organised, executed and attended. There was proper involvement of support staff, proper marketing of the event, good attention to detail, and the result was consistent and expanding success of the event. Appointing a rare gem of a sports administrator such as Kashif Muhammad to direct our Sports Commission architecture is obviously the right thing to do.
We underestimate, to the detriment of our youth; especially the underprivileged, the school drop-outs, the young boys and girls who can find a pathway to success through sports.
From Region 1 thru 10, talent of the youth abounds. We have to give our youths, through sports, the opportunity to become responsible, disciplined, confident and productive citizens. Kashif is the man for the job, the leader for the task of upgrading our sports infrastructure.
Ideally, we should have a bias, to put persons with a sports background to lead our youth and sports development. From the streets, from the schools, from our rural areas, we have to mobilise a rebirth of well-funded and organised sports programmes that coordinate school programmes, clubs and the activities and plans of the various sporting associations and federations, along with job opportunities. Let us use the best we have! Let us appoint Kashif Muhammad as our Director of Youth and Sports.
Region 10 is the undisputed resource centre for successful youth athletes, and Kashif’s front row seat to see the sacrifice, dedication and needs of our youths would keep motivating him to do great things for the development of youths and sports in Guyana.

Sincerely,
Nigel Hinds