Sport Fest a hit at Harmony Village

DPI, Guyana, Saturday, April 14, 2018

The local sports fraternity was well represented on Thursday, April 13 at Harmony Village 2018. Held on Main Street between Church Street and Middle Street, the event, a celebration of Guyana’s culture was facilitated by the Ministry of Social Cohesion that also has the responsibility for Culture, Youth and Sport.

It brought together Government agencies, religious organisations, social and ethnic groups, the international community and for the first time the sporting fraternity for a spectacular display of Guyanese beauty and diversity.

The ‘Sports Village’ with booths dedicated to cricket, karate, dominoes, and appearances of national athletes aimed at increasing awareness of sports in Guyana. The sporting bodies who took part in this aspect of the event included rugby, football, cricket, boxing, table tennis, karate, chess, draughts among others.

Representatives from the various disciplined told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that they received a tremendous response from the public and deemed the event a success.

National Chess Coach, Wendell Meusa

“To be honest, the turnout was good; a lot of persons were very interested in joining clubs and receiving training. We had persons from the fire service, the Police Force, GDF which is surprising to me because you do not really see them playing chess. We have some elderly persons who wanted to play chess, so to me, it was a fairly good turnout and I think the day went great overall.”

Table Tennis Coach, Linden Johnson

“It was fairly okay for me, I think the turnout was wonderful, we had small children from three years to persons over 50 and I think it was a successful day. We taught persons the basics in table tennis and much of the fundamentals in table tennis. We had the Assistant Director of Sport, Melissa Dow, she is a Level Two coach; she also did some work with the smaller ones and that was a plus that persons in high position came out just to work with the smaller ones.”

Senior Vice-President, Guyana Rugby Football Union, Earl Edghill

“Harmony in a village is definitely good for the people. What I can say about the activity and our involvement is that the village brought together persons from all walks of life, from different areas. Mothers, grandmothers, students, uncle, aunts and they were all interested in the game and I can say that we are happy for this opportunity to showcase what rugby in Guyana is and what we have been doing because the turnout and the interest were phenomenal.”

Senior Instructor, Guyana Karate College, Jeffry Wong

“I averaged over 100 persons visited. We shared out forms and gave them the information about karate, benefits of karate in their life… I am very happy and pleased and we could do this more often.”

Cricket Coach, Garvin Nedd

“I think it was a great initiative… the response was great in terms of youngsters coming, not being aware of the amount of equipment that is involved in the game at the grass root level. Also, they did inquire how they can become directly involved in the sport.”

The drive for sports in Guyana has been one of the priorities for the government. Over the past two years, a number of steps have been taken to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in whatever discipline they desire. This has been supported by the ground enhancement project which seeks to develop community grounds across the country. There is also the Light It Up campaign which provides persons with the opportunity to practice their discipline at nights.

The government has also granted several athletes scholarships to study overseas while at the same time, receiving the best training available to develop their various disciplines.

 

By: Isaiah Braithwaite