The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FINALLY, Bahamas Olympic Committee president Romell Knowles said the newly formed Progressive Liberal Party government, under Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, got it right by selecting a Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture who came from among their fraternity.

Mario Bowleg, the Member of Parliament for Gardens Hills, was sworn in on Wednesday in the Andros Room of the Baha Mar resort as one of the 11 selected to complete the Davis-led 22-member cabinet after the PLP dethroned the Free National Movement at the general elections on September 16.

“The sporting community is relieved that the Progressive Liberal Party has seen the wisdom in giving sports a person within our ranks,” said Knowles of Bowleg, who also served as the outgoing president of the Bahamas Basketball Federation and a former vice president of the BOC.

“For years now. Quite a number of years, sports seemed to have been a token position for supporters of whoever was the governing party, but the wisdom of Philip “Brave” Davis as Prime Minister understanding that sports play a critical role and a vital role in some of the social issues that this country faces, gave us someone within our ranks..”

During the ceremony at Baha Mar, Knowles said Bahamas Baseball Association secretary general Teddy Sweeting expressed the sentiments of the majority of the sporting fraternities when he uttered that he’s “elated that finally, a government seemed to have gotten things right in giving sports to someone within the ranks.

“I can tell you without fear or favour that no longer will sports sit on the sidelines and allow anyone in a very respectful way to allow the Ministry of Sports or the Department of Sports, to be a token for somebody, who has been a party supporter.”

In Bowleg, a former basketball player with the AF Adderley Fighting Tigers turned high school coach for the St Andrew’s Hurricanes and CC Sweeting Cobras to assistant and head coach of the men’s national basketball teams and former vice president and president of the BBF, Knowles said they have a specialist that they can rely on.

“Just like the legal and just like the health profession, we require a specialist, someone who understands our language and someone who comes from among us, who understands our language and understands our pain and understands what our responsibilities are as a federation, as an association and as an athlete.

“Mario, coming from among us, understands our plights. He would have sat in that ministry before for hours trying to get resolve on when he would get his grant, trying to understand the subventions for athletes. “So I believe that a Brave Davis led administration will make life easier for those of us who practice sports and those who administer sports.”

Speaking on behalf of all of the sporting bodies that fall under the jurisdiction of the BOC and that are on the outside looking in, Knowles welcomed Bowleg to his new post.

And Knowles said he looks forward to a bigger budget, grants being resolved in a timely manner, a clear part on the subvention and opportunities to travel in what he has dubbed a “new day.”

Timothy Munnings, the Director of Sports in the Ministry, also chimed in as he concurred with Knowles in his assessment of his new boss.

“Mr Bowleg has extensive sports experience, not just as a national team coach, but also as an administrator having served in various leadership capacities in sports,” said Munnings of Bowleg, who replaced Iram Lewis, the last minister under the FNM government led by former Prime Minister Hubert Minnis.

“Mr Bowleg is well known in the sporting community and will receive my full support and that of my department and I am confident he will also receive the full support of its shareholders as we collectively work to continue elevating sports in the country.”

Bahamas Softball Federation president Ted Miller said Bowleg understands the plight of team sports, so he’s confident that he will do well in that regard.

“I know that if I go to him as president of the Bahamas Softball Federation, he knows exactly what I’m coming for because he’s been there trying to move teams around the country and the world and knows exactly what we are up against and is needed.

“He knows the infrastructure for the sport, so we could speak the same language. “I just hope he gets the tools he needs to be effective within the ministry.”