The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ST. George's, Grenada: Team manager Mildred Adderley said there was nothing better than a good night sleep for the BTC Bahamas Carifta team to get ready for competition at the Grenada National Athletics Stadium during the 45th Carifta Games that start on Saturday morning.

F0llowing a three hour flight from the Bahamas on Thursday, the team took the rest of the day of to recuperate and settle in at the games village at the Rex Grenada. They were tucked in bed around 9 pm and were eager to get out on the track for their final workout session on Friday morning.

"They are excited to actually be on the track practising again," Adderley said. "Everybody seemed to be doing good. They are right in their element. This is what they do . . . They are ready to get into competition."

Adderley pointed out there there were no major injuries, but the medical staff, headed by Dr Arthur Clarke, therapist Michael Armbrister and physiotherapist Kitty Adderley, have been working on any nagging problems to ensure that the athletes are all in tip top shape to compete.

"Everything has been okay. Everyone has settled in the games village, the transportation is okay and we have some very good attaches, who have been dealing with our every needs," she said. "So far, there's no surprises or complaints from the kids. We are expecting three more college athletes to come in today and one more on Friday and that will give us a total of 61 athletes."

The team was only waiting on the arrival of Keanu Pennerman, Kinard Rolle and Breshae Wood on Friday, while Janae Ambrose is scheduled to arrive on Saturday.

"We know what some of the other countries have to offer, but we're not focusing on them," Adderley said. "We know what we have to offer and we just want our kids to believe in themselves and on any given day, they can go out there and win. We believe in them and we know that the Bahamas believe in them, so we just want them to go out there and give it their best."

Head coach Wendall Collie said all of the preparation is done. Now it's time to perform.

"All of the athletes look like they are ready to go," he said. "If the athletes can stay focused, I am confident that we will be able to come out with more medals than we got last year and challenge Jamaica for the top spot. We have a great coaching staff. Everybody is doing their job. I can't wait to work with them again. We are just as ready as the athletes for competition tomorrow."

During the morning session, the Bahamas will be fielding competitors in the final of the girls under-18 high jump and shot put, along with the preliminaries of the 400m in all four categories. There will also be the start of the under-20 boys octathlon.

Following the opening ceremonies, the evening session will take place withe Bahamas represented in the final of the boys under-128 triple jump, the boys under-20 discus, the boys under-20 high jump, the under-20 girls long jump and the girls under-20 shot put. On the track, will be the preliminaries of the 100m, the 1500m final, the 400m final and the 100m.

There were no major changes in the selection of athletes in the various events. A total of 66 events will be contested over the next three days with more than 600 athletes from 26 countries participating. Jamaica are the defending champions and the Bahamas will be out to at least maintain their second place finish from last year's games in St Kitts & Nevis.

Audrick Lightbourne, the sprints coach from Grand Bahama, has high hopes for the sprinters across the board.

"They are looking sweet. They are ready. This is my world. I will get them charged up," said Lightbourne, who is making his eighth trip as a coach after he competed back in the 1980s as a sprinter himself. "Depends on each individual, if they all come out and do what they are capable of doing, we will not just make the finals, but will be in for the medals."

Antonio Saunders will serve as the coach for the jumpers and he's excited about the potential on the team.

"I jumpers seemed quite promising. Coach (James) Rolle, coach (Jason) Edwards and coach (Peter) Pratt have done a good job of putting in the ground work and preparing the athletes for this meet, so we should be in the medal standings, as with every year with the jumpers," projected Saunders, who is coaching on the Carifta team for the first time since 2013.

"I'm in Exuma and one of the reasons why I came here when I was asked after some of the other coaches stepped back was because I wanted to inspire the athletes in Exuma where I'm now coaching (at LN Coakley). I want to show the kids that they have a top level coach who can make things happen and help them to strive to do better in the future. Some day I would like to see some of them making it on the national team to compete in a meet like this."

And look for the throwers to make their own splash on the field as well, according to coach Dawn Johnson.

"We have seven throwers, all of whom will throw the shot put and discus. We don't have any javelin throwers," she said. "They are enthusiastic, they are energised and Tiffany Hanna will be the first one out on Saturday so hopefully she can start the trend of gold and more gold. We had some butterflies, but we are working them out so they can all be ready to compete."

A number of persons, including Minister of Labour Shane Gibson and Minister of State in the Ministry of Works Arnold Forbes, arrived in Grenada on the second Bahamasair chartered flight on Thursday evening. Among them were a number of parents, including Tito Moss, who was a previous coach on the team.

"I'm here to not only support my daughter Megan Moss, but Team Bahamas," Moss stressed. "As parents, we look forward to coming to the games to support our children and I know I'm looking for some exciting performances from Megan. I also think that the Bahamas will also produce some outstanding performances as well. So we are all here to cheer on Team Bahamas."

A junkanoo group is also here to electrify the stadium with their rhythmic sound of the goat skin drums, horns, whistles and cowbells.