The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.”  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  2 Corinthians 4:8

AS WE venture into the last quarter of this year, there are a number of scenarios waiting to be played out in local sports.

In no order of priority as they start to unfold, there are a lot of expectations.

Unification of High

School Schedule

On Monday, we will get to see the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association join the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools to have softball played at the same time. Grand Bahama is also playing softball first on their agenda.

The move was orchestrated by the Ministry of Education in an attempt to at least give all of the sporting bodies in the school system a chance to compete on an even keel for a national high school title.

With the Bahamas Softball Federation hosting the 12th edition of the Austin ‘King Snake’ Knowles National Championships October 18-20 at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, hopefully we will see a wide range of teams from both the public and private schools come out and participate.

Knowles has made a tremendous contribution to the growth and development of the sport and it’s only fitting that he gets the full participation of both the BAISS and the GSSSA in making the tournament a true national event.

No doubt, the success of softball will determine what happens when the other sports like basketball and volleyball take place. Right now, track and field is the only discipline that has had a wide range of participation.

Women’s National

Softball Team

After watching the men’s national softball team slip to the bottom of the pile at the Pan American and World Championships qualifying tournament recently in Medellin, Colombia, the focus now switches to the women’s national team.

The women’s national team was due to travel to Belize, but it’s understood that the country has announced that they will no longer be able to host the tournament. The organisers are now targeting the Bahamas.

If that works out, the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex will have to go through a much-needed renovation to ensure that all five fields, including the Banker’s Field, are brought up to a high standard.

If the tournament is staged here, it would also provide the Bahamas Softball Federation with the opportunity to ensure that the best team is selected and we don’t have a repeat of what happened with the men’s national team.

While there was a mixture of youth and experienced players, the federation had to take more of the younger players because some of the veteran players originally named to the team were unable to travel at the last minute because of work commitments.

If the tournament ends up here, it will also give the Bahamian public a chance to see a high level of competition that we’ve not been fortunate to view in quite a while.

Completion of New

National Stadium

Right now the gift of the $30 million national stadium from the People’s Republic of China is just sitting in the Queen Elizabeth Sports Center because all of the cosmetic work has not yet been completed.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said they are anticipating that the stadium will be ready for a major “surprise” event that will take place in December.

Hopefully by then, there won’t be any additional work needed to be done at the complex itself, having been sat idly since the Free National Movement government hosted an official opening ceremony in February.

The stadium is considered the envy of the region and already has dates set for the hosting of the Carifta Games in April and the initial IAAF World Relays in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The question is: Will the stadium be ready, considering that there are constant rumours that the track has to be resurfaced and the grass on the infield replaced? Minister Johnson has refuted those allegations and said there is no cause for alarm because the stadium is ready for use.

Election of BOC, BAAA, BVF

I’m not sure which one seemed to be heading for the biggest raucous, but the Bahamas Olympic Committee, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations and the Bahamas Volleyball Federation all are in the same dilemma.

They are preparing to go to the polls to elect a new executive team for the next four years sometime in November. No official date has been announced as yet but there is a lot of excitement brewing over who should take over as president.

All three organisations will be highly scrutinised as there has been a lot of acquisitions over who fulfilled their roles and who didn’t function in the manner that they should have.

By the time the elections come around, I’m sure that there will be more than enough said to make one wonder how these organisers managed to carry on their day-to-day operation, much less operate from the time the incumbents were voted in office.

These are definitely some issues of concern in terms of what to expect moving forward in local sports.