NSC to provide physiotherapy and psychological services for athletes/federations

The National Sports Commission (NSC) will soon embark on bringing about a structured approach to providing physiotherapy and psychological services to athletes and federations.
This revelation was made by Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle on Saturday, while sharing that in an effort to minimise injuries and bolster the psyche of local athletes, the expertise of Sports Psychologist Noelle Smith and Physiotherapist Eliecer Ducasse Ramiez of Cuba will be made available to athletes and federations.

The pair have been employed at the NSC for the past three years, but, according to Ninvalle, their knowledge and expertise have not been maximised to its fullest potential because of poor supervision.
“Well, the National Sports Commission is trying to maximise the uses of the professionals that we have within the Commission, and we would have had a psychologist and a physiotherapist who, in my mind, both have not been used to their full potential,” the Director of Sport said.
“Matter of fact, not many sporting organizations, Federations and Associations in the country know that they actually exist, or there is a psychologist or physio that could assist them. We would have recently had several teams leaving to represent Guyana overseas, and we just saw it fit, prudent, that if we have those resources within the NSC, that we allow it to be used by the people of Guyana,” Ninvalle explained.
Smith was recently dispatched to work with sportsmen and women in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), and according to Ninvalle, a structured approach will be taken to offer their services to Guyana’s sporting fraternity.
Ninvalle divulged, “Ms. Smith has started working with athletes in Region Ten, and we plan on having quite a structured approach, whereby we will be calling in the Associations and Federations to actually see how we can schedule.”
Explaining the process by which they hope to execute the programme, the DoS said, “Maybe one day a week we deal with badminton, powerlifting, weightlifting and maybe football. I mean hypothetically speaking. But we’ll be creating a schedule, so each and every association right across the 83,000 square miles of Guyana will be serviced.
“So, in bringing structure to it, we will maximise their expertise, and the athletes and the federations will benefit from that,” he added.
Smith and Ramiez will start to work with the 12 core sport disciplines: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball, Swimming, Squash, Hockey, Rugby, Tennis, Table Tennis, Cricket and Football. All other disciplines will be worked with also.
Ninvalle then added that psychology and physiotherapy are fundamentals for athletes around the world. “So, more or less, Guyana is now playing catch-up,” he said.
“As the Honourable Minister Charles Ramson Jr. would have said, there is, and there will be, a change in how sport is administered from the view of the National Sports Commission, and this is part and parcel of us doing that,” the Director of Sport highlighted in giving another reason why this initiative will be started.
He concluded by stating: “We are making it known that we now have a structured approach open to each and every sport discipline in Guyana.”