‘Your time must count’ – Ramson charges new AAG Executive

For the first time since they were entrusted with the leadership of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) on Sunday last, the Executive of the country’s Track and Field governing body officially met with Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. and other key sport stakeholders on Tuesday evening.
The meeting took place at the Ministry’s Main and Quamina Streets Boardroom, where the AAG’s Executive were able to share plans, mostly for the upcoming CARIFTA Games, while stakeholders such as Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) President Godfrey Munroe, National Sports Commission’s Cristy Campbelle and GOV Vice-President Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon also shared charges for the new Executive alongside Minister Ramson.
Most of all, Ramson Jr. urged the recently elected body to ensure that their time in office ‘counts’.

“Now we’re all busy, but you have to look at it from the point of view of this is for a period of time, and that for this period of time, your time must count. You must look back at your time when you’re involved in the leadership of the association. What have you achieved? You must start with that in mind. What are you looking to achieve within this period?” the Sport Minister counselled.

He went on allude to dysfunctional bodies, warning the new AAG Executives against such occurrences by stating, “Over my time here, I’ve seen a number of associations, where they have new bodies but they don’t develop a culture of having everyone participate in the roles and responsibilities that they want to take on. It tends to be a very short honeymoon phase of excitement; happy to be on the executive and to receive the title, but when it actually comes into the work and the responsibility, people tend to play, and they tend to have diminishing efforts.
“Taking on the role, you’re already elected, that’s a title you’ll already live with. But you also have to look at your period to say, because of my role in this, this is how we’ve helped to take Guyana, these athletes that you’re representing, how you’ve taken them to a place they’ve never gone before,” he further advised.
The Sport Minister has set high expectations for the body and their partnership with the MCYS, detailing a number of areas where he would like to work with the AAG. Among those areas listed by Ramson jr. are: bettering results, increasing the number of track-and-field events hosted by Guyana, acquiring elite trainers and facilitating their work, increasing the number of athletes who secure scholarships, and upping participation and qualification for international events.

As such, the Minister assured the AAG of support of the MCYS.
“So, you have a partner and a partnership opportunity here. Again, we have never asked for anything in return for the premise of our engagement, but what’s important is trust. Obviously, we are expecting that you do your job in the best possible way that you can do it. Now, we don’t expect you to be the best in the world, but we expect you to work as a team. That’s important, but we’re also expecting that you have with the engagements with us, how we can work together to achieve the things that we’re looking to achieve,” he shared.
The new AAG Executive includes President Sheryl Hermonstine, Vice-Presidents Mark Scott and Mayfield Taylor Trim, Treasurer Dwayne Carter, Assistant Treasurer Niall Stanton and Committee members: Thelson Williams, Dr. Ariana Mangar, Osafa DosSantos, Tyrone Smith and Towanna McCalmon.