GABA excited to have proactive and sport-oriented Minister
-as Minister Ramson pledges support for Basketball development in Guyana
-Training Programme & Basketball clinic for Tiger Bay youths in pipeline
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. has pledged his support to the growth and development of basketball in Guyana.
This will be done through effective communication and collaboration with stakeholders to develop young talent, as the Minister noted an overwhelming interest in the sport from youths. Minister Ramson committed to working towards the establishment of facilities and provision of equipment in partnership with the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) and other relevant organizations.
“With basketball you need a ball and you need a hoop and those are not necessarily the easiest things to come by…In addition to the facilities, we’re going to be able to identify areas that will have a lot of the younger talent in more dense areas. We can help to develop that and continuously progress it,” the Minister stated.
President of GABA, Lieutenant Jermaine Slater, thanked the Minister for his “interest, willingness and commitment in assisting” the Association in this regard.
Lieutenant Slater also said that post-COVID-19, the organization will be rolling out a full slate of activities and is elated to have an active Minister working with the Association.
“We expect -as soon as the pandemic is gone away- a full slate of activities. We expect the Ministry to be on board with us and I’m actually excited right now, because right now we have someone in Government who is actually sport oriented, knows and feels the streets like us and we expect to definitely keep this partnership going,” Slater said.
GABA’s events are currently aimed at youths, as the President explained that, “the youth are the ones who actually take the mantle forward”.
Moreover, the Association is currently targeting youths in Tiger Bay who are interested in basketball. They have teamed up with the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) and other relevant organizations to set up a basketball clinic and coaching activities for the youths at Burnham Court, which is in close proximity to the community. The activities will commence as soon as they are given clearance from the Task Force, according to Slater.
“There are a lot of children interested out there, what we’re trying to do is get a database of them. We’re going to work with the different basketball players from different clubs to get a listing and also YBG to get a listing of the school kids that actually play basketball,” the GABA President said.
Minister Ramson acknowledged efforts from both the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation and Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association, in maintaining their professionalism and fulfilling their mandate toward basketball development.
“I’m happy overall with just the level of commitment the Georgetown Basketball Association, as well as, the Guyana Basketball Federation that they have shown in the process… Many hands make light work and you can get a lot of things done working together,” Minister Ramson said.