… former GABF President makes call for better funding
The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) has one too many times found itself on the asking side when it comes to obtaining funds to offset top-notch international competition expenses.
Just last year, the Federation made several public appeals, begging Government to do better when it could not acquire funding in time for a basketball championship in neighbouring Suriname. As a true testament to his time in office, former President Nigel Hinds, just before he handed over the mantle to Michael Singh, had a few bold requests as it relates to funding the blossoming Federation.
“It is often said that much more needs to be done by the Government and you
Former GABF President Nigel Hinds
cannot be more accurate in that statement,” Hinds declared in his final presidential remarks.
Explaining the plight of the Federation, Hinds said that the problem needed to be addressed at the root – the national budget.
“The problem is that it starts at the budget level, and the budget is $1 million set out for 20-plus sport disciplines when they need about $10 billion as a starting point to probably address the sports concerns and needs from youth to the senior level.”
The former President went on to highlight a few areas in which more funding can help to propel the sport, outside of just having a team travel overseas for a tournament.
“In particular in the schools, where you need coaches and you need proper playing facilities,” he said.
However, the former GABF Head was careful to note that funding was not always an issue. As he explained, Hinds referenced that a $10 million donation in 2014 would have been adequate at the time.
But, owing to the Federation evolving and producing a higher standard of players and furthermore, better competitions, it is now in need of more to maintain that standard and propel itself upward.
“Now $10 million could probably just fund one team for one championship. So we’ve raised the bar,” Hinds stated.
Reflecting on his presidency, he disclosed that he often ‘fought fire with fire’ when the Federation was denied funds it direly needed. An example of this was when Hinds had asked for a sum of $10 million to fund a senior men’s and women’s team at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships (CBC).
Citing this, he noted that systems should have been in place to have monies granted for such competitions, rather than having the Federation ‘beg’.
“We didn’t want to grovel and whine for monies, which should have been allocated voluntarily,” he disclosed.
In his assessment of the situation, the President, who served from 2014 to 2018, noted that much more could be done, but it boiled down to having persons who were selflessly willing to help.
“So that’s something that we can try to change, but it comes down to having politicians with that vision and appreciation for the importance of sports,” he noted.
As such, in his capacity of outgoing president, Hinds sought to make a bold call to Government and corporate Guyana alike, urging them to be more involved in the welfare of the Federation.
“So, this is a call to the politicians, the corporate community, and the Non-Governmental Organisations, particularly the Guyana Olympic Association who I think could do much more for basketball. We must not be the stepchild or the pariah and you’re throwing grains at us. We merit a five or 10 million [dollars],” Hinds said.
