The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HEAD coach Greg Cash said the Bahamian public should be proud of Team Bahamas’ performance at the BTC Carifta Games over the weekend.

Athough the team fell short of last year’s second place tally of 42 medals in Hamilton, Bermuda, the Bahamas maintained its position with 31 medals, including eight gold, behind another impressive showing from Jamaica, who dominated with a total of 69 medals, 29 of which were gold.

“We knew that we had a few stallions left in the pen who were in their last year and they were really able to help the younger athletes catch the spirit,” Cash said. “All of them came up and gave it 110 per cent. What can I say. To God be the glory.

“We are looking forward to some great things as we look ahead to 2014 and the years to come.”

The games, started by by Austin Sealy in 1972, will be heading to Martinique.

And based on Team Bahamas’ performance, Cash said the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations will have to go back to the drawing board and work on the areas that the team was not successful in, including the distance running and field events.

“We still have a lot of things to build on,” he said. “We still have a lot of work to do with our distance programme and now is the time for those persons who have the expertise in those areas to step forward and help out.

“We have to look at building our nation and one of the ways we can do that is by having some specialty coaches coming on board and helping out a little more.”

Looking at the performances of Team Bahamas, Cash said there were a lot of highlights and he was really pleased with the way the under-17 boys and girls performed in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 metre relays.

But he said he didn’t want to single out anyone because it was a total team effort.

“This was a history-making team. This was the first team to compete in the new Thomas A Robinson Stadium and I think they all deserve a hand because they all represented the Bahamas very well,” he said. “I always want to thank all of the coaches who worked along with me on the team and those who helped to prepare the athletes.

“I always want to say a special thanks to all of the parents for affording their children the opportunity to come out and represent the country. The BAAA put the team together and we worked with the team. It was a total team effort. We tried our best to match up against Jamaica, but obviously we had our shortcomings. But I was pleased on the whole with the way the team performed.”