The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) in collaboration with Olympic Solidarity continues to increase the number of local Sports Administrators, with the main aim being the general improvement of sports in Guyana.
Against this backdrop, the GOA conducted its 19th Sports Administrators Course on October 18-21.
The venue for this year’s course was the Guyana Teachers’ Union Conference Centre in New Amsterdam, Berbice. This was the fourth occasion that this course was held outside of Georgetown and the second time at this particular venue as the first such course held outside of Georgetown was conducted there in 2007.
The welcoming of the participants at the Opening Ceremony for this year was carried out by Garfield Wiltshire, Course Director, while the Overview of the Course and Opening Remarks were given by Course Director, Claude Blackmore.
This year’s course had 25 participants, drawn mainly from the county of Berbice.
This year’s Course had several of the Presenters outside of the list of Certified Course Directors, of the Guyana Olympic Association.
The Programme saw the return from overseas studies of Nutritionist within the Ministry of Public Health, Ms. Abigale Caleb, who lectured on the topic: “Importance of Sports Nutrition”, while a newcomer to the programme and from the same Ministry, was Phychologist, Ms. Mosa Hutson, who dealt with the topic: “Mental Health in Sports”, a topic continued among the participants even after the lecturer had departed.
Similar participants’ reactions were given to a number of other presentations, the most pronounced seems to have been, one given by Mr. Theodore Henry whose topic: Strength and Conditioning in Sports saw parts of it where participants had to come from off their seats to do the practical demonstrations.
A jovial part of the course was the bantering among the participants as to who could have been arrested as against those who would have been charged by the Police as Attorney-at-Law, Ms. Emily Dodson went through with her topic which was: Sport and the Law. Participants also took part in a panel discussion “The important role Sports play in the development of Individuals”
A breakdown of resource personnel and some of the other topics covered were:
Mr. Noel Adonis: Combining Education and Sports and Governance of a Sports Organisation.
Ms. Wanda Richmond: Women in Sport.
Ms. Tricia Fiedtkou: Sports for All.
Ms. Mayfield Taylor-Trim: Conducting Meetings / Effective Communication.
Mr. Donald Sinclair: Values and Ethics in Sports.
Mr. Hector Edwards: Planning, Decision Making and Evaluation/ Preparing a budget for a Sports Delegation.
Mr. Claude Blackmore: Challengers facing Sports in developing Countries / Volunteerism/ Government and Sports.
Mr. Garfield Wiltshire: The Olympic Movement, Olympic Solidarity and its Programmes/ National Team Selection/ Budget and Money Management.
Participants had a session where they dealt with Group Work topics which were immediately followed by a “Review of their Group Work Topics” after which the participants wrote an Examination. An Evaluation / Wrap-up followed to conclude the course.
The top three graduating students were:
Ms. Lakeisha Pearson – Guyana Football Federation
Ms. Robin Leach Wilkinson – All Saints Primary School
Mr. Dinesh Roopnarine – New Amsterdam Technical Institute
The Closing Ceremony was chaired by Ms Mayfield Taylor – Trim, a Course Director, with Mr. Claude Blackmore presenting a “Review of the Course” and Mr. Charles Corbin undertaking the duties of Introducing the Guest Speaker, Ms. Winifred Heywood, Mayor of New Amsterdam, who delivered the charge to the participants.
Mr. Osafa Dos Santos, a Participant of the Course, gave the Vote of Thanks on behalf of the 2018 Class.
