President Ali bolsters cricketers’ future with massive donation of gear

All the essentials that a young cricketer, male or female, would need to ensure their success in the sport, were on Saturday morning individually packaged and presented to hundreds of youth cricketers at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC) Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown.
The initiative is a brain- child of President Dr. Irfaan Ali and received support from Members of the Cabinet, which saw equipment such as Balls, bats, pads, cups, helmets and gear bags given to the young players.
Speaking on the magnitude of the distribution, Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. emphasized how ground- breaking the initiative is, which can add to the development of the sport.
Ramson Jr. declared, “Today is a historic day, there has never been a single day that this large investment is being made for young cricketers across this entire country. There has never been a day that’s greater than today.”

“You are the tree, you are the fruit and this investment, that President Ali is making in you so that you can grow and prosper and blossom into productive citizens of the country and potentially world class, elite athletes who can represent Guyana; take our name, take our nationality, take our brand to the world stage and show the world that we are a proud nation, capable of beating the world,” Ramson went on to say of the development prospects, likening the young players to growing plants.
Going so far as to cater for whether or not a player is right or left- handed, President Ali, in his time at the mic, divulged that the youths will have the flexibility to adjust their new gears if needed.
“But there is a 15 days change policy. That is if you have to get your helmet adjusted, if you have to change from left to right- handed, if you have to change the size of a pad of something, the suppliers, West Indian Sports and sheik Mohamed, those two establishments will help. The Ministers who are here will have the responsibility to help you through the process, the Guyana Cricket Board would help us to organize so we could have those exchanges done. We want to ensure that you have your equipment that is fully functional,” President Ali revealed.

In sharing reasons for such a massive investment, President Ali went on to disclose how integral sport is to his ‘One Guyana’ vision.
The Head of State shared, “We see the investment in sport as an important aspect of the unification factor under the One Guyana umbrella. Sports is that interconnection that brings us together, especially team sports and that is the beauty of team sports. In team sports, if you don’t play as a team, you can’t win and you learn to work together. Most of these sports here gives us the ability to create that environment.”
Young cricketers from each of Guyana’s administrative regions, with special emphasis on the Hinterland Regions such as Regions 1, 8, 7, and 9 were all beneficiaries on Saturday.