The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TEDDY Sweeting, the long-time secretary general, was elevated to the top post, becoming just the third president of the Bahamas Baseball Federation after incumbent Craig ‘Salty’ Kemp declined to seek another two-year term in office.

Sweeting was elected during the federation’s annual general meeting and election of officers on Saturday. The elections were presided over by Bahamas Softball Federation’s secretary general.

“I feel humbled and privileged. The confidence shown in me from the membership, especially the active membership, those who have been very active in the federation, supported me hands down because they have seen my work ethic and all that I’ve done and presented to them. So I feel very humble about that and I feel that they will continue to support us as they would have done over the last 10 years.”

The federation was formed in 2003 in an effort to enhance the level of the sport in the country because they felt the governing Bahamas Baseball Association wasn’t getting the job done.

Following on the heels of the two previous presidents, Senator Greg Burrows and Kemp respectively, Sweeting won the top post with a slim 7-6 vote over Clarence McKenzie from Grand Bahama. The first vice president spot was won by Alonzo Pratt with an 8-5 victory over Geron Sands.

Shane Albury went in unopposed as the second vice president, Grand Bahamian Joseph Moss won 9-4 over William Seymour for third vice president and Shawn Russell, also from Grand Bahama, went in unopposed as the fourth vice president.

Replacing Sweeting as the secretary general was Lisa Adderley, who went in unopposed after Jeannie Scavalla declined her nomination. She will be assisted by Tammy Albury from Abaco. The treasurer was Grand Bahamian Stephen Adderley from Grand Bahama, who went in unopposed after Robert Cox declined his nomination.

“I think I have an exciting executive team. A lot of them bought into the idea of being a part of the executive team because we have a vast cadet of individuals,” Sweeting said. “I’m very confident with the team that I have. They are very excited. We had our first meeting after the AGM and they are excited and ready to start running. I think I’m going to crowd their plate so that we can get as much done for the membership and I think they are ready for it.”

As for their immediate plans, Sweeting said the membership mandated them to set up a committee to formulate a paper that will outline the league requirements of the federation.

“We’re finding that we have to put in place what it requires to be a league and to be able to maintain that status,” Sweeting said. “That has been a key issue for us, especially with those who have been key members of our federation. So we have to come up with a paper that we can all live with.”

Additionally, Sweeting said he intends to sit with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with the view of getting a national baseball tournament instituted next year in New Providence.

“We have been partnering with Major League Baseball and one of the things they love to see is a national high school baseball tournament,” Sweeting said. “Even though we might not be as strong as we should, we need to get that finalised. Hopefully we can get the schools from Grand Bahama and the other Family Islands to get involved.”

Sweeting said Major League Baseball is eager to do some extensive work in the country and they have an opportunity to improve their level of commitment to the sport.

And to improve the competition in the National Baseball Tournament, Sweeting said they will be looking at dividing it into the junior and senior competitions.

“When we play the senior part of the nationals, we find that a lot of those players are assisting in coaching the various teams and they don’t have the time to prepare themselves to play.”

And as they prepare to celebrate their 10th anniversary next year, Sweeting said they intend to honour and remember the players who played on the national team that defeated Cuba 2-1 at the University Games in Cuba in 2006.

“We feel it’s a very significant event and it should be celebrated,” he said. “We intend to make sure that the players know that their performance was very appreciated by the federation as we move forward to getting back to the international level where we compete in more tournaments like that.”

The federation, according to Sweeting, has some big plans and in due time, they will be unveiling all of them to the public.