Linden Games 2018 a success
A member of the winning female cricket team (Westside) collects the team’s prize from Dr. Vincent Adams
A member of the winning female cricket team (Westside) collects the team’s prize from Dr. Vincent Adams

LINDEN Youth Leaders (LYL) pulled off a dynamic $5 million Linden Games 2018 which is said to be the start of something new for the mining town of Linden, and is expected to draw people from all parts of Guyana to the town in 2019.

On Saturday, participants of the Linden Games were awarded for their achievements at the LYL’s inaugural Linden Games Award Ceremony.

A Westside player collects a medal on behalf of his team that won the basketball competition

Linden’s Mayor Carwyn Holland, who is also the group’s advocate, said he realised that much interest was not shown in the town’s product which is sports, and he intends to fix the problem through the games.

“We have a sports tourism product right here. I believe this is the start and next year it’s going to be bigger, and next year we’re going to see people flocking from all over to come to Linden. If you invest in sports, we’re gonna get what we’re seeing here tonight. If you invest and you put the energies out there we’re going to get sports returning, we need something for our young people. So we had to find something. We cannot stay there crying that Linden is negative,” the mayor said.

Guest Speaker Dr. Vincent Adams shared with the youths the importance of sports and how it can positively impact their lives. “My academic credentials and my accomplishment, it wouldn’t have been without sports,” Dr Adams said.
Dr Adams told the gathering that he was the first person from Linden to represent Guyana in cricket at the national level, but that injuries kept him out of the sport. He had to turn to a back-up plan which was education.

“It doesn’t matter what sports you play or how good you are, make sure you have that backup because the probability of you making it as a professional, etc. its almost zero; I hate to tell you this, but play for the fun of it,” Dr Adams said.

The trophies and medals that were handed out at Saturday night’s event

He continued: “If you gonna play and you want to be serious you make sure you train hard. Make sure you work hard for your academics too…. If I can make it from where I came from which is exactly the same place you folks came from, if I can make it, you can definitely make it.”

The goal of the games was to resuscitate sports tourism in Linden and promote the development of Region 10 through sports.
It is also a way of encouraging fitness and healthy living and engaging the constituencies in celebrating Linden as a sports-loving destination.

Overall, the Linden Games was a huge success. In spite of the inclement weather, the group managed to pull off eight of the 10 sports disciplines namely, cricket, football, table tennis, cycling, domino, draughts, basketball and swimming. Wismar won three of the sports disciplines while Mackenzie won five.

Special awards such as the Ronald Bulkan Award and the Carwyn Holland Award were given out. In addition, Culley Hercules, Johnny Gravesande and Daniel Williams were also awarded for their exceptional role in athletics in Guyana.
Next year, the LYL will be adding boxing, lawn tennis, volley ball, karate and chess to the Linden Games.

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