By Treiston Joseph
With the National School Championships less than one week away South Georgetown or District 13 wants to claim their first National School Championship title since Georgetown was divided into three parts in 1980.
Nevertheless, the road ahead for South Georgetown will be tough, especially since North Georgetown (District 11) and Upper Demerara/Kwakwani (District 10); both winners of titles have shared the championship title between themselves since 1991.
However, Coordinator Leon Bishop, in an interview with the News Room, is of the belief that his district that finished fifth in last year’s championship race can finish in the top three with a hope of taking the top prize.
“I am really confident in my swimmers who I am banking on and the cycling as well as the teacher’s, the team is in high spirits and I believe once we can win swimming and the teacher’s championships we will be in the top three and I can afford to safely say we can even challenge for the top spot,” Bishop stated.
Further, Bishop highlighted “our (South Georgetown) downfall in the district is simply our students don’t get to be a part of the clubs especially for the swimmers because of financial constraints, that was a big thing for us in the past and to some extent the cycling and athletics. Now we have put some systems in place and over the years we have continuously improved”.
Meanwhile, Bishop indicated that the team will be coming strong and focused on accomplishing the main goal of winning the championship.
“The morale for the team is high, our swimmers are improving, we lost the teacher’s championship by seven points and they are out here working to help win that and I think the kids have seen that and are motivated to put in the work.
“Our team does not get to train as one but I do keep tabs and we are ready and raring to go in all the championships… we finished 11th last year in track field and was out of the top three by one point so I believe once we can hold our own their will be inside of the top three for sure,” Bishop noted.
Before the National School Championships were separated into three districts, (North South and East) Georgetown as a whole won the event 12 times dating back to the first recorded Championships in 1959.
A win for South Georgetown would make them the only other Georgetown team outside of North to win a championship title.
The National School Championships will begin on November 21 and conclude on November 25 at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
