The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER calling it off last year because of the spread of COVID-19, the Bahamas Softball Federation has announced that its annual general meeting and election of officers will now be rescheduled for Saturday, March 26.

The venue time has not been disclosed, but current president Ted Miller has it emphatically clear that he will not be seeking another term in office, especially considering the fact that his wife, former BSF executive Dorothy, needs special care and attention due to her complications from COVID-19.

When the AMG and elections were in motion before they were called off, veteran umpire Thomas Sears and long-time manager/ player Alphonso ‘Chicken’ Albury had indicated their desire to run.

With the new date being set, it’s understood that former versatile player Jennifer ‘Jenny’ Dotson is also planning to put her name in the hat for the top post for the governing body of the sport in the country.

“We’re going to hold our elections in person because the virtual thing won’t work for us,” Miller said.

“We’re going to have it here in Nassau, but we haven’t selected the venue yet. But we’re working on putting everything together and will inform the membership in short order.”

Although he has been around in the sport for quite some time, Miller was elevated to the presidency of the BSF in 2015 and he served for the past seven years, including the extra year due to the fact that they couldn’t hold the elections last year as planned.

During his tenure in office, Miller admitted that he didn’t get to do all of the things that he had set out to do before he took over from Burkett Dorsett.

“We got Exuma and Inagua playing softball again, but because of the hurricane, it kept Long Island from playing,” Miller said. “But when they wanted to come back, the pandemic came into play and that stifled the progress I wanted to make for the sport.

“I wanted to have Exuma, Long Island, Inagua and Bimini back in the federation to rebuild softball, but we fell short of that. I didn’t expect it to go that way. But I don’t want to prolong any kind of progress that someone would like to bring to the sport.”

And with his own personal obligations to deal with, Miller said his focus of attention has to change. Looking back, he noted that he doesn’t regret one day he spent in office and under normal circumstances, he felt he would have been able to achieve a lot more of the goals and aspirations that he had for the sport.

“I really wished that I could have gotten more done,” he stated.

Like he did prior to the postponement of the AGM, Sears said he’s still committed to running for president of the BSF.

“There’s some things that I need to do and I think I’m still the person to do it,” Sears said.

Using the old adage that if you continue doing the same things you were doing, you will get the same results, Sears wants to do some things differently so that they can get a different result moving forward.

“I do believe that the constitution has to be reviewed and amended to coincide with the times we currently find ourselves in,” Sears said. “There is a new normal in sports and so we have to change with the times.

“I’m currently reviewing my platform to see how we can unify softball because softball needs to be unified. There’s too much separation in softball. I think a unified softball will do wonders for the participation of our youth and fostering the support for the not so young as we concentrate on getting people back into the ballpark.”

While he had a slate of officers he was working with before the elections were called off, Sears said he will be contacting those persons and others at the end of the month to ascertain their interest in serving on the board with him.

There’s no indication yet what are the intentions of both Albury and Dotson and anybody else who might be vying for office. There is also no word yet on when the nominations for the elections will be closed.