The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FORGET the bickering and backbiting that has rocked the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations since the newly elected officers were voted in office a year ago. Forget the vote of no confidence in various members. Forget about the legal actions that were taken against each other.

After Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson intervened and the International Amateur Athletic Federation sent representative Jee Isram to ensure that the opposing parties came together in an amicable agreement, all is well once again in the BAAA.

In a show of solidarity during a press conference yesterday at the BAAA office, president Mike Sands spoke on behalf of all of the executives, revealing that they have all agreed to put the impasse behind them and work together as the collective body that was voted in office on November 7.

Joining Sands at the table were first vice president Iram Lewis, second vice president Foster Dorsett, secretary general Carl Oliver, treasurer Philippa Arnett-Willie, technical director Frank ‘Pancho’ Rahming and special projects officer Dexter Bodie.

“In every family, there’s going to be some level of dispute,” said Sands in his opening remarks at the press conference. “Hope you choose to resolve that dispute is what is important.”

Sands said there’s no reason to rehash what caused the dispute within the association because the important thing is that they reached an agreement and they are now concentrating on the way forward.

“Based on the dispute between us, there was a meeting called by the minister two weeks ago. The executives attended the meeting with the minister. There was some discussion. The minister left the room for a period of time and we continued to talk and discuss the situation.

“At the conclusion of that meeting, we resolved that we will work together in the best interest of the sport and indeed the athletes whom we were elected to serve. Subsequent to that, the executives had a called meeting to again discuss and I must say that the special called meeting was the turning point.”

As a result of their meeting, Sands said they also agreed to go back to the membership to resolve the motion that was put on the floor for the vote of no confidence in the entire executive board.

“We went to the meeting on Saturday, which was the general assembly,” Sands said. “Prior to the meeting, the IAAF senior manager Jee Isram, who has responsibility for all member federations, which is 212 member federations within the IAAF Family, was here. We had a very frank meeting with Jee Isram. He addressed us and acknowledged that it was in our best interest to do whatever was necessary to resolve the matter. At the end of the day, after discussions, the membership agreed to amend the resolution on several conditions, one of which was the constitution has to be revisited and we are waiting on the recommendations from the IAAF in moving forward.”

Although he was not present for the press conference, Sands said Harrison Petty, president of the Parents Association, is now back on board as are all of the other executives who were missing, including public relations officer Tonique Williams-Darling.

By virtue of agreeing to all work together again, Sands said both parties, which had initiated court proceedings for an injunction against each other, have agreed to drop them.

Sands then made an appeal for all of their stakeholders, including athletes, coaches, officials and sponsors to come forward and assist the association. He noted that at some point, the association will try to recommit their association with all of the stakeholders.

In moving forward, Sands said there are a number of areas that they will be giving a lot of consideration to.

Athletes’ representation

While there wasn’t any provisions in the make-up of the current executive body for athletes’ representation, Sands said the association will be working more closely with the athletes, considering that at the Nationals, they nominated ‘Golden Girl’ Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and Chandra Sturrup as their representative and assistant.

While neither of them resides in the Bahamas, Sands said they have been made aware that former sprinter Maryann Higgs-Clarke has been deputised to work on their behalf, but he has not had an opportunity to speak to any of them.

If their nominations go through, the representatives will replace former multiple star Lavern Eve, who acted previously as the athletes’ representative.

All activities are still being pursued

Despite the interruption by the vote of confidence and the court injunctions, Sands said the BAAA still functioned as if there was no impasse.

“All of the teams travelled as expected and the athletes performed at the highest level,” Sands said. “The year-end awards ceremony is still being done. We have the National Cross Country Championships in January and we are working on a strategy plan for the next nine months.”

The end-of-the-year awards ceremony, which is the next event on their calender, is scheduled for December 29 at the Hilton Hotel.

IAAF World Relays

With the IAAF’s initial World Relays scheduled for May 24-25 at the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, Sands said it should be clear why the IAAF has mandated that the organising committee be separate and apart from the BAAA executive board.

“There’s representation from the BAAA on the board, but there’s also representation from the government because the government is one of the stakeholders,” he said. “Now you can see the wisdom why the IAAF has mandated certain things. It’s a structured organisation. All hands will be on deck to move this organisation forward.”

Moving Forward

Having only resolvied the impasse in the last 48 hours, Sands said the main goal now is to produce the collective body that will work towards getting the BAAA past this dilemma and in the position to regain their rightful place as the most prolific sporting body in the country.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “There’s always going to be finances, so we have to establish a working finance committee so that we can find those dollars because, at the end of the day, every dollar counts. Not to preempt anything, but we have to regroup and look at the individual assignments.”

Talent Search

With the World Relays coming on stream, Sands said it’s their intention to begin a massive junior programme, which is being coordinated by Frank Rahming, where they look at developing the next general of athletes from throughout the country.

One of the ways they intend to do that is by having some special relays put on both Saturday and Sunday during the relays that would allow each island to bring their best teams to compete against each other.

“I can assure you that that will bring out the best in the Family Islands,” he said. “Unfortunately, there will only be relay events, but we will try to find the talent out there. The coaches in the Family Islands are excited about what is going to happen.”

Sands assured the public that the executives have vowed to do whatever is necessary to bring some harmony and cohesiveness back within the BAAA, now that they have resolved all of their issues and have agreed to work together as one big happy family again.