The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net YULE Hoyte, one of the top bowlers in the country, has been elected as the new president of the Bahamas Bowling Federation. During the elections which was held on June 9, Hoyte was voted in unopposed as he replaced Monique Leary of Grand Bahama, who served in that capacity for the past seven years. Hoyte, 54, will be joined by first vice president David Slatter, Ken Brathwaite as second vice president, Tyrone Knowles as secretary, Camille Burnside, assistant secretary, Clayton Gardiner as treasurer, Joanne Powell as assistant treasurer, and Leon Graham as chaplin, assisted by Alfred Burrows. "We need to first get a firm grip of the federation," said Hoyte, whose entire slate went in unopposed to serve for the next two years through September, 2014. "We have not yet fully taken over the federation from the past president. Once we would have fully taken over, we will look at some initiatives to improve the sport." While New Providence is finally recovering with the opening of Mario's Bowling & Entertainment Center after the closure of the Village Bowling Lanes, Grand Bahama has been affected with the closure of the Water World Bowling & Recreation Center about two years ago. "Bowling has been at a standstill in Grand Bahama as a result," Hoyte said. "But we are looking forward to ways that we can try to revive the sport over there just as it was done here in New Providence." As soon as they are officially in office, Hoyte said they will be focusing on a vibrant youth programme within the school system in New Providence and Grand Bahama. "The sport for the past 10 years was stunned. There was no growth. We never really had a proper new programme to grow the sport," he said. "That is going to be our main focus." Additionally, Hoyte said they also intend to foster a working relationship with the business world to generate more sponsorship of their local and international tournaments. Talking about tournaments, the first official international tournament (see story on this page) for the new executive board is the Tournament of the Americas. The federation has been holding its trials over the past three nights at Mario's Bowling and Entertainment Center. "We have a super team to select from so far," said Hoyte. "We have the top bowlers already qualified in both the men's and women's divisions, so we have a pretty good team once we have it all sorted out. We should do pretty well."