The Tribune

By Ricardo Wells

rwells@tribunemedia.net

SPORTS officials in the Bahamas are moving in the right direction and they need to be commended.

In the past I have been critical of sports development in the Bahamas, even going as far as to offer my unsolicited advice through this column and requested comment when asked face-to-face by people in positions to advance the level of sports here.

In an article entitled ‘Finding a niche’ published in The Nassau Guardian last week, Sports Unit Director for the Ministry of Education, Evon Wisdom, laid out the thought process behind his unit’s push to set up several new sporting disciplines throughout the education system in the country.

The most notable aspect of this in my opinion had to be his indication that a need was identified in sporting disciplines recognised at Olympic level.

He stated directly: “What you had in the past were individuals that took it upon themselves to learn or take up a niche sport. Now we are making it open to all students, allowing them the opportunity to pick and choose what they may be interested in.”

That line stood out for me for a number of reasons, but mainly because it spoke to the void that exists in our national approach to sports.

The Bahamas is known for the standard of athletes it produces. With that said, it is almost amazing when one has to note that many of these athletes are not, early on in their lives, interested in the sports that they show so much tremendous talent in.

We produce world-class track athletes, great basketball players, excellent volleyball players ... the list goes on. However, these are athletes placed in to these moulds and, over time, crafted into the stars that they often become.

Take the case of Shaunae Miller. In the wake of her gold medal win at the 2016 Summer Olympics, she travelled home and attended several celebrations in her honour. At the time her high school coach made note of how many sports Shaunae had tried her hand at before being steered to the track.

The push towards the establishment of these new disciplines - such as judo, equestrianism, archery and bowling - doesn’t delve into disciplines completely foreign to us as a country. What it does do is place the actions associated with these disciplines on bigger national stage and basically inviting our naturally talented youth to consider disciplines that go overlooked.

The Bahamas possesses enough raw talent in amateur boxing that, if pushed towards judo, could produce a potential future world champion.

According to the 2015 scholarship statistics, there were 2,528 Division One wrestling scholarships offered. That in addition to 1,907 Division Two and 2,650 Division Three opportunities.

If done correctly, in a country as athletically pronounced as the Bahamas, we can produce two to three student athletes capable of capturing these types of scholarships.

Moreover, according to those same statistics, Division One schools awarded 740 scholarships in equestrianism alone. Avenues abound.

The reality is that we have students coming up every day, some of whom are academically inclined and ready to ascend to the next level.

However, in addition to the group, we have students who struggle academically and need that added help - that is where athletics comes into play.

Expanding our sporting disciplines exposes our children even further to these avenues and gives the Bahamas more opportunities to show why we are great.

I commend those in the position to make things like this happen.

• Ricardo Wells writes Fourth Quarter Press every Monday. Comments to rwells@tribunemedia.net