The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NEWLY appointed Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg got a firsthand view of some of the sporting facilities that come under his jurisdiction over the weekend and from what he’s seen, there’s a lot more that could be done to enhance them.

“As the new Minister, I want to check all of the facilities to make sure that they areas that they are in the right position in order for us to move sports in the right direction,” said Bowleg, who was accompanied by a number of his sporting executives, including Permanent Secretary Eugene Poitier and Director of Sports Timothy Munnings.

His tour with the media came on Friday when he started his visit at the South Beach Pools and ended up at the boxing and softball park at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

“The South Beach pools have been under utilised over the last several years and it makes no sense to have these pools here and they are not utilised,” Bowleg said. “We live in an archipelago and there are many young Bahamians out there who don’t know how to swim.

“We also need to address the Ministry of Education and try to make sure that they encompass swimming in their programmes and that they utilise these pools, even if it only means the schools in the southern district. But it should be utilised more.”

At present, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force have occupied some of the office space as they beef up their fight against the migration of foreigners from other countries such as Haiti and Cuba. Bowleg said there’s no reason why the Ministry of Sports should not have a stronger presence at the site.

“They need more supplies to ensure that the pools are well kept and they have an old pump that is failing and needs to be replaced,” Bowleg said. “We want to make sure that the environment for the staff is one that they can live with and come to work on an eight-hour shift and they are comfortable.”

Bowleg said his ministry intend to bring back the swimming summer programme because like every sport, there are “diamonds in the rough” and hopefully with persons in the inner city, who can’t get into the established swim clubs in Bahamas Aquatics, can come to South Beach and hone their skills so that they can become the next gold medalist in the sport.

“My job as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture is that with every facility that we have, that we can bring forth a young athlete that can be another representative of this country at the highest level. We have to make sure that we find them and the only way we can find them is if we utilise our facilities.”

As the immediate past president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, Bowleg congratulated Grand Bahamian Jonquel Jones on winning the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Most Valuable Player of the Year award. To solidify that honor, over the weekend, Jones was the only unanimous choice for her first All-WNBA first-team selection.

As he had a chance to talk to her on her return home, Bowleg said his only regret that her Connecticut Sun’s team was not able to advance to the championship after posting the best regular season, only to get knock out in the post-season semi-finals or Eastern Conference finals by the Chicago Sky.

And now as all attention is switching to the National Basketball Association (NBA) with three Bahamians participating – Grand Bahamian Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield is now in his sixth season with the Sacramento Kings, DeAndre Ayton in his fourth year with the Phoenix Suns and Kai Jones in his rookie season with Charlotte Hornets - Bowleg wished them all a successful year.

With Frederick King playing in the NBA Academy in Mexico and Samuel Hunter, now playing with the Ole Miss Running Rebels men’s basketball team, Bowleg said the future is bright for basketball and for more Bahamian players to enter the NBA.

“We can’t find another Jonquel Jones. We are still looking for that person,” said Bowleg, who coached in the New Providence Women’s Basketball Association (WNBA) as well as the St Andrew’s Hurricanes and CC Sweeting Cobras’ senior boys basketball teams and the men’s national basketball team.

“But as far as the male aspects are concerned, we have about two more prospects who make it in the NBA within the next three years.”

After completing his tour of the South Beach pools, said he’s looking forward to viewing the other facilities to see what conditions they are in and what recommendations are being made to get them back in tip top shape.

At present, there are about five members of staff from the Ministry of Sports and Michael Clarke, the superintendent for the facilities said there is an urgent need for more activities at the park so his complement of six staff members can enhance their duties on a regular basis.

“We’ve been doing a great job maintaining (the pools). We have our challenges, but we have a full staff,” he said. “We have the technical staff, we have some staff who can deal with electrical and they’ve been here for years and so they are very familiar with the system.”

Bacchus Rolle, the Member of Parliament for South Beach, was also on hand to view the facilities. He thanked Bowleg for including him on the tour and indicated that they have some ideas for a learn to swim programme for the young children and adults in his constituency.

“When you look at primary school students throughout the southern region and whether or not they are bussed in here, to learn to swim either competitively or just to swim because every Bahamian should know how to swim,” Rolle charged.

“He noted that the South Beach Park holds so much potential, especially for summer camp and I’m excited about it,” he said. “I spoke about it during my platform and so we’re just so happy that the opportunity to be here for us to be involved and to have a real presence in South Beach.”

At the National Boxing Gym, Bowleg got a chance to step into the ring where he put on a fully clothed exhibition with former Bahamian Commonwealth Games’ bronze medalist Stevie’ the Heat’ Larimore, turned coach and consultant at the ministry. Boxing coaches Valentino Knowles and Keishno Major were among those persons present for the tour.

“I know a couple months ago, the boxing stadium was in a worse condition than it is now,” Bowleg said. “I’m glad to see that some renovations have been done in partnership with NSA (National Sports Authority) to bring it up to the standard that it is now. It’s still not where we want it to , but it’s much better and we will continue to work to bring it to a world class standard where we can continue to produce world class athletes.”

Before he left the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex, Bowleg was given an assessment of the Bankers Softball Field by superintendent Andy ‘Smudge’ Ford and supervisor Michael Laing. Among some of the issues discussed were the lighting fixtures and the construction of a new scorer’s booth and concession stand.

“We will do all in our power to ensure that whatever necessary work needs to be done in the arena, will be carried out in the shortest space of time.

“We know we can’t do everything at once, but we will do all that we can to make it a much better training facility for the boxers. We know that they also want to host some local competition there, so we will work with them in getting the necessary work completed.”

Like the baseball fraternity, who is still looking for the completion of the new national baseball stadium with the previously named after Andre Rodgers, softballers are also looking forward to construction of the new national softball stadium, the old one being named the Churchill Tener Knowles National Stadium.

Both the old Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium and the Churchill Tener Knowles National Stadium were demolished when the Chinese came to town to start construction on the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, adjacent to the old TAR Stadium.