Published: 7 September 2005
Tim's Latest Gambia Trip - 19th to 29th July & 9th to 30th August
This summer I spent most of my time in Gambia trying to teach our players more tactics and playing techniques whilst also trying to sort out the on-going problems with the shuttles that should have arrived in the Country.
I will start with the training. My visits were in two blocks this time. July 19th through to July 29th (10 days). Followed by August 9th until August 30th. (21 days) With the exception of Sundays all other days were booked up for training. The plan for this was to pay the fares for three Tujereng players each day to bring them to and from the hotel to pick up the Jeep transport. We would then meet up with six Youna players and train daily as a group of 9 or 10. The roster changed each day to allow different players to train.
Saturdays were match days. Two doubles and One singles for all to be involved.
The training was hard; the hall was extremely dusty and at times breathing was very hard. The floor was concrete and was breaking up with the daily use we were giving it. Transport in the Jeep was hard due to the poor road conditions and at times we got stuck, at other times the roads were just rivers. Journey times took anywhere from 15 minutes up to an hour.
Training itself was good and I used many methods to teach and communicate all shots in the game -singles and doubles tactics. I even took my wooden Squash racket to work on increasing power. This worked very well and all players I think enjoyed this the most. Doubles tactics and laws took some time to communicate through but was worth the effort as again our players responded. The three matches produced some close fought battles. As is the Gambian way, at times it was not easy and many points caused heated discussions as their competitive instinct struck in.
Most important this time was (thanks to Steve Porter) the provision of rackets for all the players and two sets of T-shirts and shorts with Gambia Badminton Team printed on them. My thanks go out to Running Imp International and Ian Little at Yehlex for their help with these and Monarch Airlines for turning a blind eye to the 57 kilos of luggage I had to take out with me against the maximum limit of 30 kilos per person. My hands and shoulders have still not recovered from this!
The last match was covered by the local Gambian Press and TV. This proved a success and became a big stepping stone for this project in promoting the sport in the country.
Some evenings after training I would stay with the family of one of our players for a few hours trying to communicate with them and buy them something to eat for dinner. I put a stop to this after two days in bed with food poising and dehydration.
Shuttles
This became a big problem. On my first visit I was greeted by Jerreh at the airport and told the shuttles have arrived but we will have to pay a £200 handling fee at the port. I was very unhappy about this but accepted it after speaking to contacts in the UK who stated that normally a charge would be applied by not that much.
The big shock came on the second visit. Because of the size of the cargo, the government would not accept that the shuttles were for charity and levied me a 71,000 delasis tax. This equates to over £1000. Jerreh and the local Headmaster were great in trying to lobby support to reduce this 'duty wave' as it came to be known. This was time consuming though and cost a lot in fuel as we had to pick the headmaster each day at Youna School, drive to Banjul and spend the day trying to get signatures from the Director of Education and the Permanent Secretary, then travel back to Youna to train and returning sometimes very late to the hotel - my home away from home at the Bijilo Beach Hotel.
I can recall the number of visits to Banjul being six as we kept on being told to come back the following day as the paperwork had not been signed. Again, typical of the Gambian way and nothing one can do about it. Believe you me I tried!
After all this we travelled to the Port to find to my horror that the shuttles had been mixed up in the UK and the parcel that had arrived was clothing destined for Pakistan. This caused grief and fallout again as the people at the Port not only issued a Bill of Landing, which I am told is proof of arrival, but also charged us a handling fee that we duly paid.
Anyway, the problem was at the UK end and the shuttles are now due to arrive in Gambia early September and following a visit by the local government to inspect the shuttle cargo I expect the 'duty wave' to be reduced to around 10,000 delasis. As to where that money actually goes... well your guess is a good as mine.
Finally, I would like to add at this time that I am very grateful to Jerreh who trained everyday and gave all his support - especially during difficult times.