The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Government Secondary School Sports Association reached a major milestone and broke ground on new territory with the addition of baseball to their sporting curriculum.

Senator Greg Burrows threw out the first pitch yesterday at the recently built baseball diamond at Her Majesty’s Prison complex to open the 2014 season and bring a long-awaited dream to fruition.

“I am pleased to be a part of something as special as today and I want to thank all those that played a role in making this happen. This is something that I dreamed of for a long time and it was the dream of a lot of people that have been in the baseball circle,” Senator Burrows said. “I stand here with a mandate from the government under the leadership of Perry Gladstone Christie that while I am in the position that I am in, that I must do whatever it takes to make sure that baseball is played in government schools and this is the beginning of many days to come of high school baseball.”

The first high school baseball game in GSSSA history was played between the CR Walker Knights and the CV Bethel Stingrays. Eight senior schools and eight junior schools throughout New Providence will take part in the groundbreaking venture this season.

“These young men are a part of something special so I want you to act as if you are special,” Burrows said as he addressed the assembled teams during the opening ceremony. “A baseball player knows how to behave on and off the field. He knows how to dress when he is on the field. Always dress, always behave as if someone is watching you. The people that are watching you are those that have the authority to make your baseball dreams a reality.”

Teddy Sweeting, secretary general of the Bahamas Baseball Federation, underscored how baseball can shape the future of student athletes with the opportunities it provides.

“I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Education and Senator Burrows for continuing the dream of baseball and putting it in the high schools. This is a momentous day for the sport to see young men from the various high schools in New Providence coming together to participate in what those of us who are involved in baseball call the number one sport in the world,” he said.

“We know of the opportunties, we know what the game of baseball does for our young men. I can see from among you the next Antoan Richardson, the next Albert Cartwright, the next Champ Stuart - all of those young men are playing professional baseball and came right from our programmes at Freedom Farm, JBLN and the other leagues in the Family Islands. This is the perfect opportunity for you guys, stick with the sport, work hard and your efforts will carry you through. The federation will be here to support this programme 100 per cent and the sky is the limit.”

Ministry of Education officials were also present for the historic event. “The hard work that has gone into the development of baseball has been the brainchild of our senator for many, many moons. I do know that baseball has been operating in our schools on a low scale but a fresh beginning will come to prove that it will be here for a very long time. We are on the right track,” said Keith Saunders of the High School Physical Education Department.

“Baseball is here in the curriculum and I know we are going to get other teachers on board, I look forward to that. We have broken ground in a very positive way.”

The construction of the baseball diamond at HMP is one segment and the first phase of a comprehensive plan that will result in the construction of a mini sporting complex that will also include facilities for track and field, basketball, tennis and other major sports.

The baseball diamond is configured at 320 feet down both the left and right field lines, and 400 feet to dead centre.

Prison Superintendent Patrick Wright had a simple message for the young student athletes assembled on the diamond.

“Don’t ever come to these grounds as a resident,” he said. “Work hard and you will achieve your dreams. These fields are offered to you to enhance your profession. We are about change. Coming to office I coined the phrase ‘we will be agents of change’ and we developed these grounds not only for ourselves but for the wider community and I hope you use it to your advantage. So you will come here to compete only, and never as a resident.”