The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SHE’S broken grounds as a referee and judge, now Grand Bahamian Geddet Basden-Williams has added her certification as an International Boxing Association’s Star 1 Coach to her résumé.

Two months after she became national certified referee/coach under the guidance of Grand Bahama Boxing Association president Jermaine Gibson, Williams took the bold challenge and successfully completed the two-week coaching course.

She is now the second Bahamian IBA Star 1 female coach, joining Kayla Johnson, who made history as the first Bahamian female international coach a few years ago.

Gibson, who also serves as the head coach of the All Out Boxing Club, presented Basden-Williams with her certification and she was congratulated by Bahamas Boxing Federation president Vincent Strachan, who welcomed her along with former super heavyweight Kieshno Major, who also passed the course.

The 52-year-old Basden- Williams is a language arts specialist, but currently serves as the librarian at Sir Jack Hayward High School where she has formed a club for the students. “I was very elated because being a teacher, it’s really great for me to be in a position to impart my knowledge to my students in the boxing club and to work with my president Jermaine Gibson so that we can get more young people involved in the sport,” said Basden-Williams.

Three years ago, Basden- Williams was serving as a coordinator for a summer school programme and she noticed the constant fighting among the campers every day. She noted how she jokingly said to one of them that she will make them put on some boxing gloves and fight for real. She was shocked to hear the emphatic “yeah” from the boys, one of whom had two pairs of gloves that he brought the next day and she hosted a match. “They really enjoyed it. The anger tension was removed as they did it for fun,” she recalled. “So I decided to take their energy into a different direction and I started a boxing club there.

“Immediately after that, I was introduced to the Grand Bahama president Jermaine Gibson and then to Mr Vincent Strachan, the president for boxing in the entire Bahamas. We did several matches and the students were successful and they are looking to move forward.”

As a former sportswoman, who participated in just about every sport, including track and field, softball, netball and basketball, Basden-Williams said she’s not concerned about being a woman in a male dominated sport. “They don’t say hi you’re a male. We just do what we have to do and it just gets done,” she said. “Everybody is respectful of each other’s role.”

Basden-Williams said she hopes that she can inspire more women to get involved in the sport as coaches, referees and judges as she is doing as a trailblazer in Grand Bahama.

Strachan anticipates that there will be more certified coaches and officials, including women, by the end of the year as a result of Basden-Williams’ accomplishment.

“I am encouraging all coaches to be certified referees/judges to better prepare them to develop their boxers and educate them on international rules,” he said.

“From time to time I will conduct clinics for all persons associated with the federation, in order to equip them with the standards.”