The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the third year, Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera, will play host to the Special Olympics Bocce Championships with the two-day event set for Friday and Saturday.

Teams confirmed to compete will come from Abaco, Exuma, New Providence, Grand Bahama and Eleuthera as the athletes get set to compete in singles, doubles and team events of four players.

The official opening ceremonies are scheduled for 6pm Friday by Desmond Bannister, the Minister of Works, and the competition will take place on the refurbished softball park.

“Eleuthera is looking forward to hosting all of these people with special needs,” said Tony Crean, who spearheads the local organising committee in Eleuthera.

“Eleuthera has really embraced the tournament. I know from the past two-year experiences, people are really excited to come to Eleuthera, so we are looking forward to staging the event again. A lot of preparation has gone into it and we expect to make it an exciting event.” There are expected to be at least 25 athletes competing, but with the coaches, chaperones and parents joining them, Crean said there could be a couple hundred people visiting the island this weekend.

“The expectations are very high,” he stressed. “We talk about families, but the Special Olympic families are real families because the participants have special needs. We expect a high standard of competition.”

The host team, according to Crean, has been working out every Tuesday morning for the past year in preparation for the competition. He said the four athletes are eager to display their skills against the visiting teams.

Grand Bahama will be back to defend their team title, but this is the first year that Exuma will be represented, so Crean said it’s not sure what their level of competition will be, but he anticipates that it will be stiff as it was in the past two years.

Crean said they have a committee that includes Agatha Bethel, Cathy Culmer and Julian Carey, who have been working around the clock making sure that the games are a success.

He noted that Special Olympics Bahamas, headed by Gilbert Williams, will conduct the competition with Johnneice Blyden, a teacher at Stapledon School, as the supervisor.

Bocce is an Italian game - the basic principle of the sport is to roll a bocce ball closest to the target ball, which is called a palina. Next to soccer and golf, bocce is the third most participated sport in the world.

Bocce, as a Special Olympics sport, provides people with special needs the opportunity to have social contact, develop physically and to gain self-confidence. It’s a popular sport because it’s so easy to learn.

From the championships, Special Olympics is expected to select its team that will represent the Bahamas at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, March 8-21.

Bocce will be one of the five sports the Bahamas will participate in. The others are unified soccer, bowling, swimming and track and field. It’s anticipated that the Bahamas will take a delegation of 40 to the games.

Already, Williams said they are seeking the public’s assistance in helping them to secure the estimated budget of $104,000 or $2,600 each.

Following the Bocce Nationals this weekend, Special Olympics Bahamas will host its national track and field championships on Saturday, May 26 at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium to select that team. The other teams will be selected later this year.