The Tribune

BY BRENT STUBBS

BSTUBBS@TRIBUNEMEDIA.NET

IT’S not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish.

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in the local sports scene, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

THE WEEK THAT WAS

WHY is it that very little emphasis is placed on our national teams when they return home, whether they win medals or not?

Over the years, we’ve seen some fantastic performances produced from just about every team that has left the country. In sports like swimming and track and field, the competitors have either posted personal bests, season’s best and national record times, even when they have fallen short of getting on the podium.

In team sports like basketball and volleyball, the results have been just as impressive with the Bahamas producing performances that have left us baffled as to the level that our sports have risen on the international scene.

Yet through all of the accomplishments, which from time to time at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and just recently, the Pan American Games, the Bahamas has been listed as the overall winner or right in the top ranking per capita. No other country the size of the Bahamas can achieve such a feat.

Once upon a time, we knew exactly when our national teams were returning home and we had the massive welcome reception for the athletes at the then Nassau International Airport. Is it because we’ve gone modernised with the Lynden Pindling Airport that we don’t take the time out to show our appreciation to our athletes anymore.

We used to spend many hours in the tiny VIP Lounge at the airport with family and friends waiting for the athletes to arrive and the accolades heaped upon the athletes and coaches for a job well done. I think many of the athletes who are excelling today can probably remember watching some of their local idols being praised for their achievements.

Sometimes, it’s hard to reinvent the wheel because there are so many logistics that go into planning such events. It seems as if the level of commitment to recognising our athletes as they did in the past has diminished. Thank God the athletes don’t look for it as a priority, even though if you ask anyone of them, they would tell you that they look forward to getting the recognition.

Our latest success story came from the Junior Pan Am team coming out of Edmonton, Canada with a total of three medals and the Special Olympics, who competed in Los Angeles, California where their focus wasn’t so much on winning medals, but as their theme stated: “Lets Change The Game. Play. Learn. Accept.”

While there was no official reception for the teams, I wish to commend the athletes for a job well done. At the same time, kudos is also extended to the athletes who represented the Bahamas at the Pan Am Games where six medals were collected, two of which came from Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace in swimming.

The Pan Am Games, in sequence of prominence by the International Olympic Committee, sits third on their ladder of sporting events behind the Olympic Games and then the Commonwealth Games and just ahead of the Central American and Caribbean Games.

Our athletes deserve special commendation for their accomplishments.

In contrast to those events, the Special Olympics World Games are prominent for our athletes. They competed on the stage with all of the best athletes with intellectual disabilities from around the globe. It can’t get any bigger for our athletes, who all held their own, albeit without the type of fanfare that is given to the normal athletes.

I like the phrase that Special Olympics added: Through play we learn sportsmanship, team building, persistence, character, determination and friendship. Take the Lets Change The Game challenge in increasing our participation in sports. These athletes don’t just focus on winning. Their aim was to change the attitude of the spectators and the volunteers towards the athletes.

From all indications, not just from the local athletes, but those overseas, there’s just two words to put the games in its proper perspective: Mission accomplished.

THE WEEK AHEAD

This weekend, two major sporting events will take place.

On Saturday night at the Melia Hotel, close to 40 athletes are expected to be on stage as the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation hosts its National Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships. The event will be used as the trial for the federation in selecting the team to represent the country at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships that returns to the Bahamas for the first time since 2008.

Many of the athletes have indicated that they are eager to compete in the sport now because it’s being ran by newly elected president Joel Stubbs, a former professional bodybuilder whom many of them looked up to and still have in awe for his accomplishment on the international scene.

Stubbs, who also served as a coach, has promised to turn the sport around and this is the first two major events that will scrutinise his tenure in office. I’m sure that there are many who are looking forward to seeing how successful Stubbs and his executives can pull off the nationals.

Further out west at the Clifton Heritage Park, the Bahamas Cycling Federation will host the first Under-18 and Under-23 Invitational Bahamas Championships. The Bahamas team will be matched against Colombia and the United States of America in a three-race series that starts on Saturday morning and finishes on Sunday.

This provides an unique opportunity for the public to come out and watch some of the rising stars in the sport compete in what promises to be some fierce competition that is rarely seen in our backyard in the Bahamas. So come out and cheer on the 242 in the aquamarine, gold and black uniform.

Still at home, the Bahamas Basketball Federation’s annual Summer of Thunder Basketball Tournament is currently underway at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium. The response by the Bahamians is still not what organisers are looking for so if you want to see some high level hoop competition, then you don’t want to miss these games played nightly.

And overseas, the North American and Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) Championship will take place in San Juan, Costa Rica. The BAAA will be back in the spotlight as it will have a chance to complete its selection process for the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China, depending on the performances of the athletes.

The BAAA has one day at the completion of NACAC to submit the final list of athletes for the World Championships to the IAAF. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes after president Mike Sands had indicated that they will reassess the team following the performances of some of the athletes after the Pan Am Games.