The Tribune

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

ELECTIONS are normally a contentious time in any organisation, especially if you don’t get the right people in office.

Over the weekend in as many weeks, the second major sporting organisation went to the polls to elect its executive team to carry out its mandate.

The latest was the Bahamas Softball Federation, which followed on the heels of the Bahamas Basketball Federation.

While the BBF re-elected its president Charlie ‘Softly’ Robins, the BSF stayed within by moving incumbent first vice president Ted Miller up the ladder to replace Burkett Dorsett, who after more than three decades in local administration decided not to seek re-election.

Dorsett has his sights set on a more lofty goal, serving as the current president of the newly formed Eastern Caribbean Softball Confederation. At the end of March, Dorsett was able to host a successful ECAST Tournament for Men, featuring the Bahamas, Aruba, Belize and the Cayman Islands.

The tournament came during the same time that the International Softball Federation inducted its two latest Bahamians - Oria ‘Big O’ Wood and Rommel ‘Fish’ Knowles - into its prestigious Hall of Fame.

What’s interesting to note about both the BBF and the BSF is that they both have to find a way to rebuild its base when it comes down to the amount of teams that participate in its annual National Championship.

In both cases, we have seen a drastic decline in the participation of the Family Island teams for one reason or the other. In both cases, it would appear that the federations have to go on a massive campaign to attract those island members who have not been able to field a team or host a league over the last few years.

The island associations have indicated that there is a lack of interest in the players on their respective islands.

Based on the dynamics that both federations are faced with - funding - it might be a good idea if the two, and any other organisation who might want to join them, plan a conclave on the islands where they could show just how serious they are in the re-development of their sporting programmes.

Although it has been mentioned from time to time, it doesn’t seem as if the Bahamas Games will return to the national sporting agenda anytime soon. The event, hosted by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, provided a mini Olympic style sporting competition where all of the major Family Islands came together to compete in some wholesome sporting activities.

So maybe some of the sporting bodies might want to pool their resources and collectively host a multi-sporting event of their own to rekindle the interest in the Family Islands and thus build the economy of the islands in particular by hosting the events there.

In any event, both presidents Robins and Miller will be hard pressed to get their executive teams to look closely at how they are going to get more of their island membership competing again.

And where the parent bodies of both organisations will have their work cut out for them, both the New Providence Basketball Association and the New Providence Softball Association will hold their election of officers this year.

NPBA president Keith ‘Belzee’ Smith has already indicated that he won’t be seeking another term in office and incumbent public relations officer Eugene Bain is contemplating running for the top spot.

NPSA president Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside has also indicated that he won’t be seeking another term, but so far no name has surfaced of a potential candidate to replace him. Whoever steps in at the helm will have a challenge in moving forward because obviously there’s a whole lot of work that needs to be done.

I have to commend both Smith and Burnside as well as Dorsett for the tremendous strides they’ve made in pushing their organisations forward. The testament will be on how well their replacements can take the organisations to the next level.

Another major sporting body is gearing up for their elections this year and that is the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations. But their dilemma is a story for another topic at another time in the year. For now, the focus is the direction that both the BBF and the BSFare heading in under its new administration teams that are now in office.

The Week Ahead

If the opening week of the New Providence Softball Association was any indication, fans can look forward to some exciting games being played in the Banker’s Field at the Baillou Sporting Complex.

Games are being played every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights, starting at 7pm, with six teams participating in both the men’s and women’s divisions.