Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Honorary Patron, Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat, at the weekend hailed the outstanding work of the board as he officially launched the first of four social skills seminars that would be held under the BCB Patron Fund.
Speaking to an attentive group of 45 youths at the New Amsterdam Secondary School, Minister Bharrat urged them to develop a culture of hard work, discipline, commitment and to always remain humble despite how high they get in life.
Sharing that he was a proud Patron of the progressive cricket board, the Minister committed himself to working along with the Hilbert Foster-led BCB to mould all of the county cricketers into well-rounded individuals, who would represent Guyana and the West Indies with honour.
BCB President Foster stated that the social skills seminars were the brainchild of the board Patron, who had expressed concern over the standard of cricketers off the cricket field in terms of basic mannerism, etiquette, public speaking and the balancing of education.
The first seminar, which was attended by 45 Under-19 cricketers drawn from the New Amsterdam/Canje area, would be followed by three others in West Berbice, Upper Corentyne and Lower Corentyne.
The BCB President disclosed that over 160 youths would benefit from the four seminars, which would be conducted by graduates of the University of Guyana Social Workers Class and qualified personnel.
They include Marissa Foster, Seeta Dalloo, Denicia Henry, Levi Nedd and Junior Blair.
Foster urged the youths to take advantage of the opportunities being presented to them by his board and the Patron as it was an investment into their future.
He noted that less than one percentage of youth players would go on to play for the West Indies and as such, the BCB wanted the remainder to still have a successful life.
Both the President and Patron spoke widely of the danger of illegal drugs, false friends and the negative influence of social media.
Among the topics covered at the six-hour seminar were Life Skills Training, Basic Mannerism and Etiquette, Team-Building, Problem-Solving, Conflict Resolution, Public Speaking, Leadership and Balancing Sport and Education.
Levi Nedd, House Master at the GuySuCo Training Center, taught the youth players, which included national female cricketer Ashmini Munisar, how to have lunch using the traditional knife and fork.
The youths were also taught table etiquette as the BCB strives to prepare them for future international duties.
Special emphasis was placed on public speaking, which is now relevant at both the regional and international levels.
Minister Bharrat involved each of the participants in public speaking by getting each one of them to introduced themselves.
Former BCB Secretary Mortimer George also prepared a comprehensive 10-page document on the history of Guyana and West Indies cricket, which was distributed to all of the participants.
The BCB also handed over a special gift to Minister at the end of the seminar.
