New GASA president underscores importance of collaborative effort to progress sport

Newly-elected President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), Dwayne Scott, has indicated his administration will not be a one-man show, but will bank on the input from all stakeholders to move the sport forward.

Scott, a member of the Sea Otters Swim Club, was elected on Saturday when the Association held its elections at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal.

He was unopposed as the incumbent Brian Goodridge opted not to vie for re-election.

The new president said he wants to ensure there is harmony so they can make good use of the wealth of knowledge in the fraternity.

“The biggest issue that we face is the absence of collaboration. If you tend to run it as a one-man show you will always have that element in place,” he told News Room Sport on Monday.

He added, “The important thing for me is that we have people like Nicholas Fraser, Stephanie (Fraser) and Dr. Karen Pilgrim- are all learned minds and their absence (in the past) did us harm and the objective is to get all of them and all members of the clubs involved.”

With local sport events being allowed to resume, on the condition that approval is granted by the Minister of Health and moreso strict guidelines are followed, Scott said his immediate is get the pools functioning and place primary focus on their Olympic hopefuls.

The only contested position was for Vice-President (Technical Management) in which Randolph De Santos defeated Shefetah Tzedeq 11 votes to seven.

Elke Rodrigues returned as Vice-President (Administration), likewise Yelema Phillips returned as Secretary and Valmakki Singh as Treasurer.

According to Scott, the post of Assistant Secretary/Treasurer, which was not filled due to no nominations, will be done by the executive when they convene for their first meeting.

President of the Guyana Olympic Association, K.A. Juman Yassin, who was the Returning Officer, indicated to News Room Sport on Monday, that all six clubs affiliated to GASA were represented and there were objections regarding the elections.