Talent going to waste in the Rupununi
SPORTS SCOPE OUR OPINION
Stabroek News
March 18, 2004
They travelled more than 500 miles overland to showcase their talent. Their trip was an arduous one. They arrived and turned in scintillating performances that raised quite a few eyebrows and left tongues wagging.
Siblings Clifton and Marvaline Antone along with Rosanna Lawrence made their first trip to the coastland last week, to participate in the just concluded 44th National Schools Track and Field, Cycling and Swimming Championships.
Clifton Antone performed creditably in the open boys 10K, road race, placing second to national middle-distance champion Cleveland Forde. Marvaline Antone and Lawrence defeated star-studded fields that included Delcie Dick and Leanna Doris, two athletes who have represented Guyana at regional meets.
In winning the girls' open 5K road race on the first day of the championships, 15-year-old Marvaline Antone broke Roxanne Pratt's record for the distance (20 minutes 02.06 seconds [20:02.06]) by almost two minutes. She recorded 18:22.8.
She won the 5K with more than 18 seconds in hand from national athlete Dick and she told Sportscope she could have done even better if she had known the course of the race. "When I went in front, sometimes I had to slow down and wait on the rest because I didn't know the way."
What a feat. But what's next for her?
Lawrence, for her part, won the girls' open 3,000-metre. In the process, she trashed Dick Doris, another national junior athlete. Lawrence won with more than 75 metres in hand. She went to the front of the race after 2,100 metres and might have broken the record or at least returned a better time had she been seriously challenged during the final three laps or 900 metres.
Other Rupununi athletes who performed exceedingly well at `Nationals' were Floyd Rodrigues, who won the under-15 boys' 1,500; Patricia Gomes who placed second in the under-17 girls' 800-metre and Jillian Brown who placed a controversial second to Lelita Myer in the under-11 girls' 100-metre event.
The Antones, Lawrence and the others have returned to their hinterland community, back to a way of life that might appear primitive to coast landers; forgotten until the next championship comes around. But they will only return if they are still at school and/or are selected to represent their district.
Marvaline and Clifton Antone both attend Maruranau Primary School in the Rupununi. While the female Antone started her athletic career two years ago; her brother started his four years ago. They both said they like running, and usually run every morning and afternoon around the playfield next to their home.
They have not had the benefit of any formal coaching in athletics. Theirs is a raw talent. But think of how it could explode on the track if honed.
Will those in authority allow these talented young Guyanese to go to waste? Someone, somewhere, needs to take these athletes in hand. The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, the Amerindian People's Association, the Guyana Organisation of Indigenous Peoples, the Amerindian Movement of Guyana, the Amateur Athletics Association; one or all of these organizations can and must assist. These athletes need a proper education, proper training, proper running gear etc.
If no one does, then it will be a sin, wasting talent, especially in the case of Marvaline Antone.
There is a kind of magical quality to this teenager. It is possible that she is another Maria Mutola or Zola Budd. But we will never find out unless her talents are carefully exploited, starting now.