The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the added responsibility of being elected as a vice president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, Derron Donaldson said he had openly decided that he would not seek another term in office as president of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association (BLTA).

But during the BLTA elections at the National Tennis Center on Thursday night, Donaldson had a change of plan and accepted the nomination from the floor and he was returned to office as president unopposed.

“I heard that the second lap is supposed to be the better lap, especially because last year was really tough. I didn’t have any transition, no one to show me where to go. I was just kind of thrown into the sea with Steve (Turnquest) stepped down,” Donaldson said.

“I just had to find my way and this year, I know when Davis Cup is, I know when Fed Cup is and I know how to prepare the organisation, so it’s kind of good. Plus, I have Bradley (Bain) as the first vice president and he’s pretty good in helping to organise things and we have a young 21-year-old secretary, who is just as eager to work with us.”

Bradley Bain was returned unopposed as first vice president and the new second vice president is Grand Bahamian Larikah Russell, who won 16-13 over Kevin Major in the only contested post in the election.

Elwood Donaldson has been returned unopposed as treasurer and he will be assisted by Owen Forbes, who also went in unopposed. Ricardo Demeritte is the new secretary general. He will be assisted by Betty Kerr, both of whom were elected unopposed.

Kevin Major, Devin Mullings, Steve Strachan, Clyde Rolle and Archie Rolle are the new council members. Mickey Williams and Edith Powell are the National Tennis Center directors.

“We have a good team and we’re ready to work. It’s a huge plus for us because we have two players on this year, so the board can hear directly from the players point of view,” Donaldson said.

“I was a player, but they were the number one female and male players and so they can be the players voice on the board and help some of the older members who may have never played the game.”

The newly elected officers will have to put their best foot forward as early as this week as they host the International Tennis Federation’s new development officer for the English-speaking Caribbean, John Goede from Suriname. Goede, who took office on May 1, is making his first official visit and his initial stop is in the Bahamas.

“He thinks that the Bahamas has so much talent and he wants to come here and help to set up some things,” said Donaldson of Goede’s visit set for May 8-12. “He also requested that he make a stop into Freeport (Grand Bahama), so we are going to take him there as early as Friday.”

Additionally, through the International Olympic Committee’s solidarity fund, Donaldson said the BOC will be assisting the BLTA in putting on a coaches’ clinic in the summer. It’s estimated to cost about $10-12,000.

“We had previously intended to put it on a month ago, but with the BOC elections pending, they were holding off on distributing any funding,” said Donaldson, who made history as the youngest officer at age 24 to be elected to the BOC. “So thanks to the BOC, we can now prepare for that.”

The BLTA is also preparing to send its national teams off to compete in both the Davis Cup for men and the Fed Cup for women. While the top six players were in a training session this past week at the Gym Tennis Club, Donaldson said they are not yet ready to release the names of the players selected until it has been ratified by the newly elected executives.

The Davis Cup team, however, will have the return of John Farrington as the captain when they travel to La Paz, Bolivia to play in the American Zone III Tie June 17-22 against Bermuda, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago.

The teams will be split up in two pools with the top nation in each pool advancing to play against the runner-up in other pools with two winning nations promoted to Americas Zone Group II for 2014.

Last year, the Bahamas team of Marvin Rolle, Rodney Carey, Philip Major and Jody Turnquest finished tied with Costa Rica for third, just falling short of getting into second place to be promoted to Zone II this year. Dentry Mortimer served as the captain.

Guatemala and Haiti were both promoted.

As for the Fed Cup, the Bahamas will compete in Americas Zone Group II in El Salvador after being relegated without winning a rubber in 2012 against Argentina, Peru, Canada and Venezuela.

The team comprised of Nikkita Fountain, Larikah Russell, Gabriella Nixon and Simon Pratt.

Once they have settled in, Donaldson said the BLTA will hold a joint press conference to review the players selected for both the Davis and Fed Cup teams this year.

The BLTA’s term of office is still one year, but Donaldson said one of the main items on their agenda will be the amendment of the age old constitution to extend the period of time to make it longer for the executives to perform.

The BLTA, as one of the core sporting bodies in the country, is the only one that still exists with a one-year term in office, something that Donaldson said needs to be changed.