The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

It’s not how you start, nor how you get there. Most importantly, it’s how you finish.

• The Finish Line, a weekly column, seeks to comment on the state of affairs in the local sports scene, highlighting the highs and the lows, the thrills and the spills and the successes and failures.

The Week That Was

Following the final trials, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations announced a 54-member team that has since being increased by a few additional athletes.

The BAAA’s new executive team, headed by Rosamunde Carey, decided to stick to the precedent set last year by the former executives, headed by Mike Sands, in only selecting those athletes who attained the qualifying standards. While not all of the athletes, the others were named for relay duties.

Sitting in the ratification meeting prior to the announcement of the team, there were coaches lobbying for their athletes, who came close to the standard and in events where there were no qualifiers for them to be included on the list. But the BAAA made it clear that if they looked at one or two athletes, they would have to include athletes in just about every event.

Coaches have a right to plead on behalf of their athletes who are not allowed to attend the meeting. They have the chance to lodge their protest for athletes that have been submitted. But as Carey stated, the BAAA has the right to either include the athletes who didn’t qualify, or not include them at all.

From some of the arguments presented, there are some athletes who deserve to be on the team. But I have to concur with the BAAA in the case where standards are set, that athletes who haven’t attained them should not be included. If that’s the case, why set standards?

I think, based on the selection process, the BAAA selected a team of quality athletes, whom I feel will represent the country very well in St George’s, Grenada, next weekend during the Easter holiday weekend. It might be a tall order to ask the team to dethrone perennial kingpins Jamaica, but there is enough talent to retain the second place finish.

The goal, according to team manager Mildred Adderley and had coach Wendall Collie, is to surpass the 31 medals, including eight gold, achieved last year in St Kitts & Nevis. None were able to make any predictions, but they were confident that the final outcome will be surpassed.

If there’s one area of concern in divisions, it’s the under-20 girls where it appears that they have been out-shined by the under-18 girls in just about every event, except on the field. As for the individual events, it seems as if there needs to be a more concerted effort on the part of the middle and distance programme as there are very few athletes named to compete.

Other than that, there has been an improvement in the field events and quite a number of athletes have performed exceptionally well in the traditional sprint events and now the technical events like the hurdles are getting some quality competitors. Despite those shortcomings, Team Bahamas looks solid and should do very well in Grenada next weekend.

HIGH SCHOOL

NATIONALS

There were at least two notable absences in the Queen’s College Comets senior boys and the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine senior girls from the list of schools that participated in the inaugural National High School Basketball Championships held in Grand Bahama last week.

The organising committee, headed by Evon Wisdom from the host Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the local committee, headed by Norris Bain, should be commended for the steps they took in pulling the event off. Yes, they encountered some setbacks as is the case with any event in its infancy.

But the fact that the event was contested, teams travelled to Grand Bahama, they were accommodated, the games were played and three champions crowned, speaks volumes for the event, despite the fact that there was a lot of skepticism about whether or not it would come off.

Congrats to the CC Sweeting Cobras and coach Mario Bowleg, who pulled off the division one title with a 60-55 triumph over the St George’s Jaguars as Anderias Blacks was named the tournament MVP.

The Cobras added to their repeat Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic championship feat two weeks before.

They were joined by the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins, coached by Kevon Spence. The Mystic Marlins, behind the MVP performance from Antonique Young, exploded past the CR Walker Knights 43-39 to win the title, their third major one for the year. They were also crowned the GSSSA champions and were the Geneva Rutherford Tournament winners.

And in the Family Island Division, the Eight Mile Rock Bluejays nipped the Mary Star of the Sea Crusaders 61-60 to keep that title in Grand Bahama. The only question was why was Grand Bahama placed in the Family Island Division that included teams from Exuma, San Salvador and Abaco?

I think they should have been allowed to play among themselves, considering the fact that they don’t have the facilities that the teams in Grand Bahama and New Providence are afforded.

While those major islands have the luxury of playing in a gymnasium with competition on a daily basis, the Family Islands play outdoors and they rarely have any teams to play against.

All things considered, the tournament turned out to be a success and the organisers are already talking about making the necessary adjustments to the second tournament next year.

Hopefully, a greater effort will be made to ensure that all of the top teams compete in the tournament.

THE WEEK

AHEAD

Team Bahamas is all set to go for a three-peat at the XXXI CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

The Bahamas Swimming Federation captured the title for the first time in Savaneta, Aruba, in 2014 and retained the crown last year in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The BSF has selected a full 36-member team to compete in the 31st version of the championships and, according to federation president Algernon Cargill and head coach Allan Murray, they expect the swimmers to perform very well.

The competition is slated to begin on Tuesday and wrap up Friday. We wish the team every success and look forward to an outstanding performance in Martinique. However, it’s not expected to be an easy road as the games are being held in Martinique and they will be looking to regain the title at home after last holding onto it in 2013 in Kingston, Jamaica.