The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune SPORTS REPORTER

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

A LONGSTANDING member of the local sporting community, newly elected Member of Parliament for Garden Hills, the Honourable Mario Bowleg - was officially sworn in as the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture.

Bowleg was one of the cabinet ministers who received their appointments yesterday under the Prime Minister Philip Davis-led Progressive Liberal Party administration.

Bowleg, an iconic coach at the high school, amateur league and national team levels who also recently served as president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, said his ministry will begin work towards its platform from its first day in office.

He listed the development of a cohesive relationship between his ministry and its affiliated groups as principal goals.

“The first thing we want to do is to put an advisory council together when it comes to culture and sports,” he said.

“The idea and purpose of the ministry is to work along with the federations responsible for the various sporting disciplines within the country and working along with those persons who are on the ground on a daily basis to give you the ins and outs of what’s going on. I think once we improve the relationship with those federations there will be a smooth transition to ensure that what they want and we can work toward what we want as a government for the betterment of sports in the country.”

Pending the improvement of the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Bowleg said the reintroduction of events like the World Athletics World Relays will spearhead the continued development of the sports tourism initiative.

“We are going to do all we can to ensure that we get the IAAF back here. I have been involved in sports tourism tremendously through the game of basketball but I believe that we can grow sports tourism not only in the discipline of basketball, but in other sports like volleyball, baseball, softball, and others,” he said.

“The idea again is to build the necessary facilities on the various islands so we can be less Nassau centric, and increase sports tourism as well on those islands.”

Bowleg said that entering office with a strong network built over several decades within the local sports community will prove beneficial to fostering that aforementioned relationship between the country’s athletes and administration.

“I’m familiar with most of the athletes. It’s just a matter of reaching them at the right point in time. Once these athletes feel loved and appreciated by us, we should have no problem working in partnership with them in order to continue to promote this country,” Bowleg said.

“We have to improve the relationship, not only be supportive of them after their success but prior to that success.”