‘Get them into sport’- Ramson Jr. tells parents of aspiring swimmers

By Avenash Ramzan

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Filled with enthusiasm and new found-knowledge of a life skill, close to 400 young boys and girls graduated from the National Sports Commission (NSC) Easter swim camp on Friday.

At a closing ceremony at the National Aquatic Centre at Liliendaal, the importance of nurturing talents from an early age was placed on the front burner as the Swimming Association works in tandem with the Commission and the Ministry of Sport to unearth and develop the next generation of swimmers.

Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. delivered feature remarks, while also addressing the gathering of participants and parents were Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, NSC Commissioner Cristy Campbell and Guyana Amateur Swimming Association president Dwayne Scott.

During the last two weeks, ‘Teach Them Young’ camps were held in Demerara, Berbice and Linden where the youngsters, some as young as five right up to age 16, were edified on the fundamentals of the sport.

The majority of the younger one came with no prior experience in a pool, and on Friday their skills acquired during the programme were put on display, much to the delight of the proud parents and stakeholders of the sport.

Ramson Jr., in sharing his own personal experiences of being involved in sport as a youth and how that has chartered his course in life, said it is important youngsters are exposed to sport, even while pursuing their academic ambitions.

“And a lot of things you learn playing organised and competitive sport, you don’t learn in school,” the Minister opined.

“And those things are very invaluable to who you become in life and how you succeed in life- things like teamwork, leadership, being disciplined, being committed, learning how to take losses and bounce back, perseverance and working towards goals.”

“So all the parents here, let me tell you: education is incredibly important. Of all the things you can do, education is number one, but I would also rank just short of that, being involved in organised and competitive sport.”

Ninvalle was high in praise of the coaches who supervised the camp, lauding them for pulling off not just a successful programme, but an incident-free one.

“This would not have been possible without the commitment, tenacity and determination of the swimming coaching staff of the National Sports Commission. Mr. Paul Mahaica and his team have done a wonderful job,” the Director of Sport told the gathering.

Campbell assured the parents and participants that this camp is the start of a much more structured programme that will be soon be unveiled through the Sport Academy Programme being coordinated by the Sport Ministry and the NSC.

Scott labelled the camp as a building block to the development and expansion of the sport, noting that the Swimming Association embraces the vision of the Sport Minister and his team to work in tandem for the further success of the aquatic sport.

That collaboration is already proving productive with the Ramson Jr. announcing that government has purchased much-needed touch pads, a device that will significantly boost swimming in Guyana.

The need for touch pads was highlighted during the Minister’s interaction with members of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association during his series of interactions with the national associations/federations after coming into office in August 2020.

A swimming touch pad is an automatic electronic timing device used in swimming competitions. It accurately records an athlete’s time and eliminates human error.

Swimming has been identified as one of the 12 core sport by the Ministry, and once the touch pads get here the Academy programme will commence.