The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH so much talent lingering around, local sporting enthusiasts decided to join forces with the One Eleuthera Foundation to stage the first One Eleuthera Sports Games.

The Olympic-style multiple sporting event is scheduled to begin on June 23 and will wrap up over the Independence holiday weekend, featuring a cross section of more than 1,500 athletes from the primary to open division in 11 different sporting disciplines.

Sponsored by the One Eleuthera Foundation and endorsed by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture as well as native Olympian Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown, the games is designed for residents of Eleuthera only and will be used as a means to enhance the level of talent on the island.

According to committee chairman Johnny Butler, they have seen the deterioration of sports on the island and this will be used as a community development programme.

“Our aim is to try and train sports administrators and coaches, to foster friendship and goodwill throughout the various levels of the community by providing a wholesome family-oriented atmosphere, to award each division champions in the various sports, to upgrade sporting facilities, recognise and discover the talent of athletes at the early stage, instil a sense of pride in the participants and to give them the opportunity to represent their schools and community,” Butler said.

The games is designed for male and female athletes in the primary division from 8-12 years, junior and senior from 13-18 and open for those athletes 19 years and older. They will participate in events ranging from the basketball, volleyball, softball (slow pitch), track and field, tennis, swimming, darts and sailing for men and women as well as baseball (juniors) and soccer for men. There will also be an open category for dominoes.

The athletes will get the opportunity to compete for three regions, inclusive of North (all settlements north of the Glass Window Bridge, inclusive of Spanish Wells, Harbour Island and Current Island), Central (settlements south of the Glass Window Bridge, inclusive of Savannah Sound) and South (settlements south of and including Tarpum Bay).

Tony Crean, secretary of the committee, said the games will begin with the sailing regatta in Governor’s Harbour and three regions will participate in a banner competition together with their junkanoo band. They will also feature the 12 Special Olympic athletes who reside on the island in a bocce exhibition.

“We want to use the whole length of the island from Spanish Wells with baseball or softball right down to the settlement where Chris (Brown) is from, Wemyss Bight where there’s a good softball park,” Crean said. “We definitely want to use all of the facilities on the island.

“Of course one of the challenges in Eleuthera is transportation. We are very grateful to North Eleuthera, who will take on that challenge of getting athletes up and down. With the track meet for example, which will be held over two days, we know how difficult it is to travel over water, come down 100 miles, compete and go back and do the same thing the next day. So we are trying to see if maybe we can get them to stay down in the Rock Sound or Tarpum Bay area where we do have some place for them to stay.”

Having been a resident of Eleuthera for the past 32 years, Crean said he remembers whenever you passed one of the sporting facilities that persons were out participating in sports. Nowadays, anytime after 4-5 pm, the parks are virtually empty as the youngsters are at home playing video games.

“One of the genius of these games was the One Eleuthera Wellness and the Cancer Society Wellness,” Crean said. “Apparently, we have more clinic visits in Eleuthera than Exuma, Long Island, Abaco and Andros combined. We had 26,000 clinic visits in Eleuthera in a calendar year, which means we have thousands of people living lifestyles.

“Our aim is to get people active, get people on the parks, get people on the courts and this will be the launch to get people back on the track. Without any real facilities, we brought four people on the CARIFTA team. I don’t know if any other family island did that before. So the talent is there. We talked about the diamonds in the rough. I think we in Eleuthera have been missing some of our talent and we hope this is a way to rediscover those talents.”

Moss, the project coordinator of economic development for the One Eleuthera Foundation, said they plan to work directly with the organisers as the presenting sponsor and to assist wherever they can in the development of sports on the island.

“Part of this initiative is how can we develop a health and wellness programme on Eleuthera,” he said. “We want to look at the reduction of the clinic visits to about 20,000 and we believe with the implementation of this sporting programme that we can convince the residents of Eleuthera, especially the school students, about the importance of healthy living and eating.”

Brown, the most decorated track and field athlete to come out of Eleuthera, said it’s a great idea and a great start for his hometown.

“We have to start somewhere and getting the youths involved is very important, especially for myself,” Brown said. “Growing up, I didn’t have a role model. I had to do it myself. So my job is basically to give back and my way of giving back is basically to use the connections that I have abroad and at home to head to Eleuthera and help educate the coaches on training regimens, eating habits, getting them prepared and making sure that they have world-class athletes at their finger tips to help them better develop their skills in track and field.”

Brown, who is preparing for the second version of his Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational on April 16 at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, said he intends to take some of the world-class athletes to Eleuthera to ensure that the juniors are well-equipped. He said he will also be lending his support and using his connections to help the athletes in Eleuthera to “look good and feel good” as he assists with the junior pgroamme.

“We want to make sure that not only are they fully equipped to run and look good, but that their grade point averages are up to par. You can’t run good and you don’t have the grades. We also want to bring some coaches to Eleuthera to ensure that the athletes have the opportunity to go to school.”

As an 18-year veteran of the sport on the international circuit, Brown said he just wants to ensure that Eleuthera is represented by athletes who can step in and take over from where he left off when he finally decides to step away from the sport and move off the scene.

Without the proper facilities to use when he was growing up, Brown said he has been amazed by his performance over the years and he could only imagine what would have happened if Eleuthera had all of the facilities in place. He encouraged persons to reach out to the One Eleuthera Foundation to make a contribution to the One Eleuthera Sports Games.

The One Eleuthera Games are being held just before the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is expected to bring back the popular Bahamas Games in 2017, as announced by Minister Dr Daniel Johnson on Monday as he endorsed the return of the Chris Brown Bahamas Invitational.