The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ANOTHER version of the New Providence versus Grand Bahama rivalry is all set to take place this weekend at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex when the Ministry of Education hosts the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association vs the Grand Bahama Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s Softball Showdown.

The event, featuring the championship teams in the junior and senior boys and girls divisions, is slated to begin 5pm today and wrap up on Saturday, starting at 10am in the Banker’s Field.

In the junior girls’ division, the AF Adderley Fighting Tigers will take on the Eight Mile Rock Bluejays starting at 5pm. At 6pm, AF Adderley junior boys will face Bishop- Michael Eldon Warriors.

In the senior girls’ game at 7pm, CR Walker Knights will host the Tabernacle Falcons and then in the senior boys feature contest at 8pm, the CV Bethel Stingrays will entertain the Sir Jack Hayward Wildcats.

The teams will return to play game two on Saturday, starting at 10am.

GSSSA president Alfred Forbes said they are appreciative for the softball challenge from their counterparts from the GBSSAA.

“We are trying to establish a National High School Championship, so this is the first step in getting something like that off the ground,” Forbes said.

“Last year, the GSSSA went to Grand Bahama to play in a pilot volleyball series and it worked very well. So we felt that if we can do this, we can extend it to the other sports and then next year we can establish the national championships that will be played in all of the schools and in all of the sports. This year is just a challenge between the GSSSA and the Grand Bahama Schools.”

However, one member of the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools is speaking out on not being included in the softball challenge this weekend. Dave Wood, coach of the Jordan Prince William Falcons, who captured the BAISS senior boys title, said they would have liked to have displayed their skills against the visiting teams.

“The kids are really upset because they have been corresponding with their peers from CV Bethel after they heard about it,” Wood said. “Some of these players are graduating this year and they really wanted to participate because they are the BAISS champions.

“We just want someone from the ministry or the GSSSA to give us a call and let us know if we can be included because the team really wants to compete. For something of this magnitude to take place here, they should at least give us an invitation as the champions. They should have at least asked us if we want to compete rather than not give us an invitation at all.”

Forbes, defending the decision to exclude the BAISS champions, said that while it would have been a good idea to get more teams involved, it is just a challenge and not an open event.

“We are just trying to foster a working relationship between the two schools,” Forbes said. “But if Prince William and the other BAISS champions want to challenge the GSSSA champions in whatever division, we will be happy to accommodate them because the private and public schools have been apart for too long.

“So if only we can bring them back together here in New Providence, that would go good for what we are eventually trying to seek with the national championships in all of the sports in all of the divisions with all of the schools or at the least championship teams participating.”

This weekend’s format will be a best-of-three series in all four divisions with the teams with the best win-loss records being declared the champions.

Awards will be presented by the Ministry of Education, whose minister Jerome Fritzgerald is expected to be on hand.”

Evon Wisdom, the sports director in the ministry, has organised the event which is sanctioned by the Bahamas Softball Federation.