By Akeem Greene
Built to host matches for the ICC 50-over World Cup in 2007, the National Stadium, which is currently the country’s lone ICC accredited international venue, has predominantly hosted cricket activities, with the occasion of Football, Hockey, Rugby, and Track and Field.
To begin the transformation of the Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is developing the vast unutilised areas in the compound to cater for Football, Volleyball, Lawn Tennis and Basketball.
Minister Charles Ramson Jr., has revealed that the football field is being built to the northern side, and a volleyball pitch adjacent to the tarmac. A tennis court will be placed near to or on the tarmac, as well as a basketball court for which he had consultations with the federation and have begun purchasing equipment.
According to the Minister, all of the additional facilities will be completed before year-end, and the football facility will have lights to allow for uninterrupted day/night training.
Additionally, plans were revealed for the construction of a cricket academy to the northern side of the Stadium.
“For next year, and it is something that is very important to me and must be done, is building the specialised cricket academy,” Ramson Jr. expressed.
“The function of this is to be able to play cricket whether you have bad or good weather and we are working on the designs right now…we are pretty confident we will able to finalise the details coming out of the next budget [and] that will be completed within a few months so we can get that started.”
The Minister is adamant that an important element for a successful sport academy is that it works in tandem with the Sport Association/Federation, and therefore, he indicated he has had discussions with representatives of the International Cricket Council, Cricket West Indies, and the Guyana Cricket Board concerning the Academy, which he assured will be constructed.
