The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) president Wellington Miller is confident that the Bahamas will have another banner year in sports in 2014.

Miller’s comments were made as he gave his assessment of sports, particularly to executives of the various sporting bodies, on the dawn of the new year.

“My wish for sports this year is that we go through the year without any difficulties or disruptions in federations,” Miller said. “They have to realise that they are responsible for providing an avenue for young people to express themselves through sports and they have to work together.

“There is only one leader in any organisation and that is the way that it has to go, so it’s better to rally around that leader and give them your support. At the same time, the leader has to realise that he or she has to respect the people who are working around him because everybody has a role to play and nobody knows it all. So we all have to lean on everybody.”

No leader, according to Miller, should be above reproach or act as if they are an island, so they have to understand the importance of allowing their members to express themselves for the betterment of their organisation. He said no leader should be afraid of their leadership.

“If you’re a good leader, it will be difficult for anybody to overthrow you. But if you’re always scared of your leadership and don’t want to give other people the opportunity to grow under you, you are in bad shape,” Miller said. “I believe in people growing under your leadership so they can go out and improve on the legacy that you would eventually leave behind.”

In his prediction, Miller said the Bahamas will experience a banner year in sports in 2014.

“For us in the Olympic movement, we have four international meets to go to this year,” he said. “The various sporting associations have their major games that they will be attending and here at home, we have a very good sports tourism initiative that is going on.

“It’s starting early this year with Marathon Bahamas, which should bring a lot of tourists to our shores with a lot of money being pumped into our economy. We also have the World Relays that should give the Bahamas a lot of publicity. So I believe that we are on the right track to tackling sports tourism in this country.”

Last year, Miller said he saw a tremendous growth in the development of sports like judo, karate, gymnastics, soccer, tennis and boxing and the BOC will be more active in all of their affiliated sports and those that they need to bring under their umbrella.

“Last year, we had three gala banquets and they were well organised and the turnout was great,” he said. “People are now realising what our organisation is all about. This is what we want because we don’t want to spend three and four hours trying to provide a sponsor with our ideas when we go to seek their sponsorship.

“We want the Bahamian community to know about the Olympic movement because it is a worldwide organisation. We have an educational aspect in our organisation, we have the youth part and we have the culture part that we hope to bring more to the forefront this year.”

During the New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade, Miller said the BOC was happy to sponsor an off-the-shoulder piece that was showcased by the Conquerors for Christ that depicted the Olympic banner.

Last year, Miller said the BOC also sent off six coaches to train in various sports, including equestrian, and they will continue to provide the opportunity for many more this year.

Once the executives meet later this month, Miller said they intend to roll out a very comprehensive plan that everybody involved in sports will be proud of as the BOC works toward getting the various disciplines ready to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

However, the highlight for this year will be the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, July 23 to August 3.

The other events on the agenda will be the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, the newly formed Olympic Festival in Mexico during the months of July and August and the Central American and Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, November 15-30.