The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THEY have made several strides to spearhead the development of beach soccer in the Bahamas for more than a year, and now two national team members have achieved another milestone to raise the profile of the sport.

Ehren Hanna and Christopher Davis have signed with the BSC SableDancers of Switzerland’s Suzuki Swiss Beach Soccer League for the 2014 season.

Both players were recognised in the House of Assembly last week as members shifted focus from the debate on the 2014/2015 budget to congratulate the duo on becoming the first Bahamian beach soccer players at the professional level.

The SableDancers, founded in 2002, are the oldest team in the Swiss Premier-League, which they officially joined in 2006.

The relationship between the Swiss beach soccer programme and the Bahamas began in earnest in April when the Bahamas Football Association hosted a beach soccer clinic conducted by the Swiss national team.

Swiss national coach and FIFA instructor Angelo Schirinzi, and Swiss International beach soccer player and FIFA player of the year 2009 Dejan Stankovic presented the course material.

It marked the third time that the BFA has conducted a beach soccer development programme.

Schirinzi has managed the SableDancers since 2012 and familiarised himself with Hanna and Davis during the clinic. “They brought and shared a level of experience to our team, the programme in the country. Right now beach soccer is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and we want to keep the sport going,” Hanna said. “We will continue to garner support from the community and keep raising the profile of the sport.”

In May, the Bahamas finished sixth overall in the 2013 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. A single goal was the difference between the Bahamas reaching the semifinal round and playing a match with a berth to the World Cup on the line.

Christopher Davis is the national team goalie but was injured for the World Cup qualifier.

“The potential for where this sport can go is incredible and this is one of the first steps in making sure we reach that potential,” he said. “We just want to bring in as much new players to the sport as possible and expose them to the game and the opportunities it can present.”

Following the visit by the internationally ranked No.4 Swiss programme in the FIFA community, BFA and government executives suggested the growth of the sport was on course with the lofty goal in mind of hosting the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

“It launches for us as a ministry and as a government, the possibility of us deepening our attempt to create venues, practice facilities, better and better national teams to one day perhaps making a push at hosting the FIFA World Cup of Beach Soccer,” Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said.

“I want to put it on the table that it is our number one goal to host that on the beaches of the Bahamas and it was this visit that made me think that this is possible.”

Fred Lunn, vice president of the BFA, said the organisation continues to make “great strides” in the local development of the sport and has submitted a bid to host the 2017 World Cup in the Bahamas.

Schirinzi said he could see the Bahamas hosting the Beach Soccer World Cup following his experience in Tahiti at the 2013 edition of the event.

“The Bahamas has the same situation as Tahiti so it has the potential to host the World Cup. You have the same infrastructure here, even better, because in Tahiti they have only small beaches. They had to put sand in the stadium, they could not train, they had to go to Switzerland to train, but here, you have wonderful beaches and good athletes so everything is possible. Now it’s up to the coaches and the training and the BFA in bringing the World Cup here,” he said.

In a relatively short time span, the Bahamas has become a major regional player in beach soccer and now the Bahamas Football Association seeks to join the rest of the Caribbean in making the development of the budding sport a major initiative.

BFA president Anton Sealey said the Bahamas will look to continue its development of the young sport, which just recently became a part of the FIFA family less than a decade ago.