The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH Major League Baseball making its initial appearance in the Bahamas to put on a coaching clinic this weekend, Antoan Richardson said it will only help to take the sport to the next level.

“I think it is a good thing to have Major League Baseball to have some interest in the Bahamas and to come down there and be a part of what we are doing in terms of the development of baseball in the country,” said Richardson, who is in Florida recuperating and preparing for his return to action this year with the Texas Rangers organisation.

“So it is an exciting time. I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a long lasting relationship that someday will allow us to be a place where teams travel to play spring training ball and even teams come down to play regular season games. But my vision is one day to see Bahamians being afforded the opportunity to work in a Major League front office organisation or a Bahamian own a baseball team.”

MLB, along with the support of the Bahamas Baseball Federation, is all set to host 25 Bahamian coaches at the Junior Baseball League of Nassau’s Field of Dreams at St Andrew’s School. The event will include the participation of Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion with the Toronto Blue Jays, who will share his experiences with the coaches during a two-day clinic.

The coaching clinic, scheduled to start on Saturday and wrap up on Sunday, is a continuation of MLB’s coaching development efforts. MLB has hosted programmes around the globe to teach pitching, batting, catching, fielding, strength and fitness, and scouting.

MLB’s programme teaches the coaching students how to run effective practices and identify tools to help them grow the game of baseball in their home countries.

Richardson, the 32-year-old outfielder, said he intends to be involved in the camp and will be lending his support as much as he can. But he gave credit to a lot of people who played a role in getting MBL to come to the Bahamas to put on the clinic this weekend.

“You have to give credit to Major League Baseball, you have to give credit to the BBA and the BBF, you have to give credit to everybody who is a party of baseball in the country from the JBLN to the Freedom Farm to the leagues in Freeport and Eleuthera,” he said.

“I think no matter how small it was, I think they all played a role and it will be good to see us all coming together to make this happen,” he said. “The sport is really growing it has the potential to really take of, so I think everybody is playing a role whether they think so or not.”

Alomar, assisted by two international coaches, is expected to be entertained in a welcome reception at SuperClub Breezes Resort and Spa. The clinic session is scheduled to begin start 8:30am Saturday with the classroom sessions until 12:30pm when they will break for lunch.

From Breezes, the coaches will be transported to JBLN Field of Dreams at St Andrew’s where the on-field session of the clinic will be conducted from 1:30 to 4pm. The same procedure will take place on Sunday for the 25 coaches from throughout the country.

“We are very excited to be partnering and supporting Major League Baseball with their official Major League Baseball clinic to be hosted here in the country,” said Teddy Sweeting, president of the Bahamas Baseball Federation. “The islands to be represented are Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, North and South Abaco and Inagua.

“They will join coaches from the BBF, three coaches from the Bahamas Baseball Association and three coaches that the Ministry of Youth and Sports will be inviting to participate. So we are looking at this as a good opportunity for us to grow the sport. Major League Baseball is using this as an opportunity to elevate what they are considering on doing here and the possibilities that they can do here.”

Sweeting, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, said the baseball fraternity is anticipating a very big weekend.

“Roberto is our guest, representing Major League Baseball. They are doing everything,” Sweeting said. “The whole effort is on their behalf. We are just supporting the event in terms of the logistics. So we are working behind the scenes with Brian Ambi (Armbrister), who is a scout with the Cincinnati Reds and Antoan Richardson, our Major Leaguer, who has met with Major League Baseball in respect to this event.

“So we have a lot of people who are working behind the scenes with respect to this event so that the country can benefit from having Major League in town. So I’m very excited to be the president at this time because I think there is a lot of things happening and we have to be doing a lot of things like the unification of the sport so that we can make sure that the sport benefits from what is about to happen.”

One of the things MBL is looking at doing in the future is assisting the Bahamas in the construction of the new baseball stadium at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre. Once that is completed, MLB is looking at the possibility of hosting their teams here in spring training or having exhibition or actual regular season games played.

The Ministry of Sports held a ground breaking for the site, located across from Government High School and next to the one-mile cycling track. But so far, no construction on the site has begun.