The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

HER selection to the top post in the Bahamas’ governing body for athletics was an historic achievement, but BAAA president Rosamunde Carey said it was just the beginning of accomplishing tasks proposed in her organisation’s “accountability documents.”

In November’s BAAA elections, Carey beat out incumbent president Mike Sands 44-40 to become the first female president of the biggest sporting body behind the Bahamas Olympic Committee in more than 60 years of their existence.

Carey, a former treasurer of the BAAA, said her United Purpose slate of officers represented the change the BAAA stakeholders wanted to move the organisation forward. “People were looking for change, people were looking for good governance, people were looking to be included. I was known in terms of being an administrator so there was no issue of having a woman at the helm vying for the top spot. Simply put, people were looking at whether we were competent enough to get the job done,” she said. “I have people around me that have been involved in track and field for a very long time. Even though we have a plan in place we still need to have guidance so I’m very grateful for those around me. Despite what we believe is a thorough  plan, things change so we want to be adaptable. We want transparency, we want to be held more accountable and we want to be inclusive.”

Carey said one of the major keys to the organisation’s success will be the development of a thriving grassroots system to create multiple feeder systems for the sport as athletes progress through their careers.

“We are looking at a tri-party partnership with the BAAA, Ministries of Youth and Sports and Education. We need to have a presence in the schools to have a sound grassroots programme so we can integrate that with the club system. Both are essential to the growth of the sport to establish multiple feeder systems, particularly for the family islands. This will generate the interest in our youth meets at every level and culminate at our nationals. This is how we can get the best out of our athletes,” she said.

“We want to engage all of our family islands, so for instance we have the country split into northern, central and southern regions. We want to have regional games, then we have our nationals. It can’t just be about the clubs we have to develop in the schools. We do have diamonds in the rough that we are not reaching at the moment.”

Another pressing issue will be communication, not just between the BAAA and the general public, but between the organisation and its athletes.

“One of the things we want to improve on is communication, we want to improve our social media presence so the public can know what the BAAA is doing and they can support accordingly. We have been talking to the athletes all throughout the campaign. Not just the elite athletes but ones at every level and we want to keep that connection going,” Carey said. “We factored this Olympic year into our five-year plan, so we know that marketing and public relations will be factors right away. We will reach out to corporate Bahamas but we also need to make ourselves self sustained. We need to take the initiative as a federation to generate income. Already, we have begun looking at merchandising as one avenue to do this.”

A calendar year which includes the Olympics and has already been touched by allegations of a doping scandal, Carey said the BAAA remains focused on again becoming the top sporting organisation in the country.

“I was stunned that the track and field federation was not even in the running for the top federation when the end of year awards were considered,” she said. “So that is our goal, to make the BAAA the top sporting organisation in the country again.”