School’s coaching programme high on GCA agenda

May 26, 2022 Sports

The Georgetown Cricket Association recently held a press conference to update the media on issues that are pertinent to the sustainability and development of Cricket in Georgetown.High on their agenda is soliciting approval from the ministry to conduct a cricket coaching programme for boys and girls in grades 3 to 5 in primary schools across Georgetown. This programme, which will be trialed in eight selected primary schools, will commence shortly. The GCA and a corporate entity are currently finalising sponsorship details.

Members of the GCA executive

Developing relations with community groups in Non-Traditional areas across the city and its environs with the aim of establishing and conducting cricket training and development sessions for youth of both genders, so as to identify talents that can then be channelled to existing clubs or combined into new clubs, is another objective shortlisted by The GCA. The collaboration between the GCA and Positive Foundation of Agricola (PFA) has led to under15 and under19 male cricketers participating in GCA camps and competitions and three females are currently enrolled in the GCA Female Youth Camp.
Further, through the fostering collaboration by the GCA between PFA, Corporate Guyana and Guyanese in the diaspora, a batting Cage with a concrete pitch was built on the community play field, cricket gear were sourced and a coach employed all in an effort to enhance the development process of the youth in that community.
The GCA is currently engaging existing member clubs in Sophia, East Ruimveldt and the Lodge community to garner support for similar programmes in those areas.
Recognising the huge gap that existed in the area of female cricket development, the GCA in partnership with Guyana Breweries Inc. through its Smalta Brand recently launched phased 1 of its Female Youth Cricket development programme which has thus far attracted 14 females from various schools in Georgetown including Queen’s College.
Registration is still ongoing and this number is expected to increase constantly as invitational letters are still being dispatched to schools across the city.
Covid19 had devastated and disrupted all aspects of life globally and had major effects on GCA member clubs resulting in their inability to attract and develop club teams especially at the junior level. In response to this situation, the GCA held an under15 youth camp that replaced its customary under15 club 100 overs tournament. This allowed the GCA technical team to work directly with the young cricketers over a three week period to adequately prepare them for participation in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) Inter-Association tournament in which the team played unbeaten to win the tournament and further resulting in the majority of GCA players being selected to represent Demerara and a special select team in the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) under 15 Inter-County tournament.
Currently, The GCA has ongoing competitions at both the senior club and youth levels and just recently hosted the New York Tri-State Academy youth team in a closely contested series in which the GCA won.
In an effort to improve its Data Management and Information sharing processes along with aligning the organisation with modern best practices, the GCA launched its live match scoring platform on the Global Live Cricket Scoring App Cricclubs (https://cricclubs.com/GeorgetownCricketAssociation) in collaboration with a diaspora group of ex-cricketers from Georgetown who represented Demerara, Guyana and the West Indies. This platform has improved administrative efficiency, allow for online scoring, data collection and analytics, along with offering opportunities to live-stream cricket matches. This initiative will enhance our selection process and offer greater visibility of GCA clubs and cricketers globally along with providing a unique opportunity for GCA clubs to re-establish contact with former members and even attract new membership.
From an administrative perspective, a comprehensive review of the GCA constitution has been launched with the aim of aligning the constitution with modern practices and synchronising it with the Guyana Cricket Act which is in full effect.
Financial support from corporate Guyana has been and continues to be a critical component for the successful implementation of the above initiatives and to other cricket programs. However, gaining access to this support requires organisations such as the GCA to have a legal status through the acquisition of a TIN certificate.