The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports REPORTER

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SOME of the most influential members of the Bahamian coaching fraternity came together to discuss some of the most pressing issues affecting local sports on both the local and international levels.

Head coach of Ole Miss Rebels Women’s Basketball, Yolett McPhee-McCuin, assistant coach for Kentucky Track and Field, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and San Francisco Giants first base coach Antoan Richardson appeared on a panel hosted by The Bahamian American Association of the Washington, DC and Mid-Atlantic Region to discuss the way forward for Bahamian sport.

McPhee-McCuin criticised what she views as a lack of investment in sports from successive administrations.

“The Bahamas is the only place where you can do well and you come back and they will tell you you are overqualified. I think the Government of The Bahamas would have much more success, the crime rate would go way down and there are so many things that a serious investment in sports can provide. Just how they invest in carnival and all these other things, an investment in sports can do amazing things for this country,” she said.

“The fact that we are not investing seriously in athletics in The Bahamas is an abomination. Sports is an asset that is not being utilised.”

Ole Miss recently signed McPhee-McCuin to a new four-year contract extension that runs through 2025.

Under her leadership, the Bahamas finished with the gold medal at the 2015 Caribbean Basketball Confederation Championships.

McPhee-McCuin cited a lack of funding in her experience as senior women’s national team head coach and the fact that the underfunded programme was in such disarray that Jonquel Jones, one of the premier players in the WNBA, made the decision to attain citizenship and join Bosnia and Herzegovina to anchor their national team programme.

“When we won the CBC tournament, I was rooming with two other people, my players were four to a room, are you kidding me? If we made the investment we needed to make, would Jonquel Jones feel like she needed to be a part of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Is this a joke? She had to make that decision to make a living,” McPhee-McCuin said. ‘‘We are missing the mark. There are so many avenues athletics can take you but we have to make a serious investment.”

Ferguson-McKenzie has gone through the local sporting system as junior athlete at the grassroots level to an Olympic gold medallist and one of the country’s most decorated athletes with 52 medals in international competition.

She insisted that government involvement at that grassroots level is the only way to cast a wider net and discover more elite athletes capable of achieving success at the international stage.

“I would like for the government to be more involved at every level from the primary level to the high school level. By the time they get to the high school level we can have a plethora of athletes that can achieve scholarships. I know the government is involved at the pro level but it is almost as if they wait until you become good to begin their support, but in my humble opinion, I think it would be better if you develop from the ground and build on that foundation and make those opportunities wider for everyone. I know there are athletes in the Bahamas that qualify to get scholarships, however, some of the areas if you don’t have the money to join a certain club or be coached by a certain coach you’re not going to make it. I think the government can level that playing field and that’s where they can come in with the financial assistance.”

Ferguson-McKenzie joined the Wildcats staff in 2018 under fellow Bahamian head coach Lonnie Greene after four years with the Houston Cougars where she helped build that programme into a nationally relevant contender.

She said the continued success of a new generation of track and field icons like Shaunae Miller-Uibo and Steven Gardiner serve as an inspiration to a younger generation, but also underlies the fact that the country’s best talent has found it necessary to leave The Bahamas to accelerate the development of their careers.

“We have the talent. Unfortunately we feel that at this point the athletes have to come out of The Bahamas and be mostly based in the states or possibly now in Jamaica to reach the next level. [Miller-Uibo and Gardiner] are a testament - just as Frank [Rutherford], Pauline [Davis Thompson] and the people that were ahead of me - that this is all possible. The Bahamas is a very talented community, the talent is there but how are we going to enhance that talent and be able to bring more of our athletes to the rest of the world,” she said.

“I think there is so much more that we can actually do to get Bahamians more scholarship opportunities and being able to bring them back. It didn’t happen for me, but how can we change that? Jamaica is doing it, they are getting it done step by step and it would be nice if we can follow step by step. The story I hear from the 70s and 80s is that the Bahamas used to win at the CARIFTA level and compete alongside Jamaica.”

She also added that the brain drain in the Bahamas is also affecting athletes and coaches who wish to return to give back to the communities but a lack of financial support has made that virtually impossible.

Richardson added that when the stakeholders make decisions in the country that affect sport, experts in the field must be included in that decision making process.

“Get the right people in the room. I think when we are having conversations on how to move things forward we have to have the right people in the room. We have to ensure when we are making decisions with athletics and how to push it forward we have Bahamians with immense experience and knowledge in different areas. We cannot talk about basketball and Coach Yo is not in that conversation at any high level in the Bahamas, the same with Debbie and track and field. We have to think about the purpose and the objective and if the objective is to help the people, let’s step aside and recognise who are the people who have the most information and knowledge to make that happen and just make sure they are in the room.” he said.

“We just want to make sure as a country we are making the right steps to help our people. We just want to make sure that the people in power that are making decisions get the right people with the right information that have a real opportunity to push that agenda for you.”

Richardson and the Giants became the first team to clinch a postseason berth for the 2021 MLB postseason.

In a complete turnaround from last year’s pandemic shortened season, San Francisco is now 98-53 to lead the National League West and was the first team this season to reach the 50, 60, 70, and 80 win plateau.

McPhee-McCuin has recruited two Bahamian players to her programmes at the NCAA Division I level - Shalonda Neely at Jacksonville and Valerie Nesbitt at Ole Miss.

“I think we all get into the profession for much of the same thing. My motto is to teach, develop and inspire young people, so just to see them accomplish leaps and bounds. I’ve coached two Bahamians now so that’s been a joy. It’s been a lot of pressure but definitely a joy to see them to be able to create their own way. Val is currently playing in Spain and Shalonda is playing overseas as well so that’s the greatest gift for me, seeing young people accomplish their goals. Those are the things we look for as coaches more than the wins, life wins,” she said.

“There’s a plethora of talent at home, it’s raw talent and that’s what makes it so unique because it’s things that cannot be taught. With Bahamians, I feel like God just sprinkled a bit of athleticism, speed, and that ‘it’ factor that we have. What it shows is them having success, is that it is possible for anyone from our small islands to be able to come over and achieve greatness. In America, they start so young and the exposure is there. It seems as in basketball you cannot reach the level you want to reach unless you leave home and go to school and train over in the US. I’m one of the few that was able to graduate in the Bahamas, from Grand Bahama Catholic High School, and went and played Division I basketball. It has become more challenging in a lot of ways. Hopefully, I would like to see a lot of people have that opportunity but it is up to the powers that be to invest because everyone is not able to go away but we have enough talent at home.”

Richardson added that the growth of baseball has been a testament to local leagues and academies like International Elite Sports Academy, Maximum Development Sports Academy, his very own Project Limestone.

“We’re in a really good place, it’s exciting for me. When I started professionally there were only two other guys in the system, now we have over 20 young men playing professional baseball and even more in college, high schools. Even in the youth leagues back home, I think we are playing more baseball than we ever have since I was introduced to the sport. We see Jazz [Chisholm] but there is also a lot of talent in the minor leagues working their way up and I’m really glad that it didn’t take 28 years for the next guy to reach the major leagues. I think the next one will be an even shorter timespan than it was between me and Jazz so we’re excited about the future of baseball in our country,” he said.

“There are ways we can accelerate those processes and I’m excited about the possibility of making those things happen.”

BAAWMAR was formed out of a community of Bahamians in the Washington DC area. It was established in 2016 and lists its goals as connecting Bahamians in the area, collaborating with people and institutions in the DMV and The Bahamas, bringing Bahamian culture to the region, and forging bonds between the Bahamian diaspora.