The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MORE than one million dollars, split in half, will be spent on the infrastructure of both the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex and the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

The National Sports Authority, who has been given direct responsibility by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, yesterday took the media on a tour of the work that is currently underway at both venues.

The renovations, according to NSA general manager Jeffrey Beckles, is necessary to prepare the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre for the hosting of more than 17 events over the next two years.

At the Betty Kelly Kenning swim complex, the carpet on the walkway leading into the stadium has been replaced by brick and the concrete seats have been replaced by individual seats, similar to what is used in the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

The seating capacity, according to Beckles, has been increased from about 250-300 to more than 500. He added that by next week, more than 100 bleacher seats would be made available for the swimmers.

And when the competition starts, the swimmers will have the benefit of using the new Myrtha Track-Start starting blocks, designed by Myrtha Pools that have been approved by FINA and used in all international competitions, including the Olympic Games and the FINA World Championships.

“We are looking for having some high class competition here and so we need to upgrade to the high level of competition,” Beckles said. “In addition to the international meets that we are going to hold, we have more than 20 college teams that use these facilities to train during their offseason, so we want to ensure that we have the best equipment for them to work with.”

Over at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium, the first thing experienced was the cool air flowing from the newly installed state-of-the-art airconditioning system.

“We have a brand new scoring system that will be here next week that has been designed for us and we are also upgrading our lighting and PA system,” Beckles said.

“This Saturday, we will be working on the locker rooms and we have upgraded our concession stand and we will be creating a NSA logo store right here in the foyer.”

Inside the gym, the old floor has been removed and is being replaced by a new maple floor, similar to what is used by teams in the National Basketball Association.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said they had to repair the previous floor at least six times because of a leaky roof and they decided that it should be changed completely rather than repairing again.

With the new floor, Beckles said the NSA would now be able to properly stage basketball, volleyball and gymnastics for international competition. Once all of the work is done, Beckles said the stadium will also have limited, free internet access, but upgraded services will be available for a small fee.

“We have also had requests from a number of NBA teams who wanted to come and train but one of the hindrances was that they had no where to practice,” he said. “Now we will have a facility that will be even more than adequate for teams to come and use.”

“When we talk about a national facility, we are talking about when it is used, how it is used and why it is used. Not everybody will be able to come and see I want to use the gym because I can afford to use it. We re looking at using it for the purposes that it is intended to be used.”

Phrase two of the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium will begin in August with the inclusion of the individual seats, which will accommodate more than 3,000 fans, which will coincide with the lighing for television broadcast.

“In order to be t the table, we had to improver our facilities,” Beckles said. “We intend to become a global partner in sports, but in order for us to do that, we have to upgrade our sporting facilities.”

The updates to both the facilities left Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller with a big broad smile on his face.

Miller serves as the chairman of the Commonwealth Games Association, which is preparing to host the Caribbean Youth Games next year. Seven of the nine disciplines will be staged in the various facilities in the QESC.

Miller said the Commonwealth Games Federation will be quite pleased to hear about the preparations that are in place for the hosting of the games when mopre than 70 countries are scheduled to come to town to compete.