The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN its continued efforts of giving back, the Alumni Association of St Augustine’s College presented a donation to the Bahamas Golf Federation’s Junior Division.

The donation was made yesterday at the BGF’s Driving Range and was a part of the proceeds derived from the initial Unca Lou Charity Golf Tournament that was held at the Royal Blue Golf Course at the Baha Mar resort on June 11.

Michael Rolle, chairman of the Unca Lou charity tournament, said they were delighted to be able to make the contribution to the BGF’s Junior Division. He presented the cheque to Fred Taylor on behalf of Gina Gonzales-Rolle.

“The tournament was a success and we exceeded what we expected to do,” Rolle said. “We gave out sbout 15 prizes, so most people went home happy and next year when we host the second one, we hope that it will be bigger and better than the first one.”

Daria Adderley, the daughter of the late Leviticus ‘Uncle Lou’ Adderley, in whose honour the tournament was named, expressed her gratitude on behalf of her mother, Florinda, and the rest of their family for the gesture by the committee and the SAC Alumni Association.

“I was quite pleased with the way the tournament and what the end product was,” said Adderley, who is now a physical education teacher and coach at SAC where she served for many years as the principal and a coach of multiple sports.

“My father was all about youth empowerment and giving back to the young people in the country. So to see this tournament come off and to have an opportunity to give back to the BGF Junior Division is something that he would be pleased about.”

Although she was unable to attend the event, Gina Gonzalez-Rolle, president of the BGF’s Junior Division, said the Unca Lou Charity and the SAC Alumni Association realised the demanding work and time that the BGF Junior Division was putting into growing the game of golf and so they decided since this is something that they all hold so dear to their hearts, it is something they wanted to invest in to ensure that the game continues to grow.

Gonzalez-Rolle said that the sport of golf will only continue to grow in the Bahamas with the help of those individuals in corporate Bahamas, who love the game and help with its growth and development.

“The BGF Junior Division has introduced golf in the school curriculum and the kids are so excited to play,” she said. “We have already had two inter-school championships in junior golf and look forward to the 2023 Inter-School Golf Championships.

“We believe that this is just the beginning of what was considered a rich man’s sport to be a sport for all Bahamians, no matter of race, colour or status. We are looking forward to hearing when persons speak of sports, it is not to be just track and field and swimming, but also golf.”

Cherelle Cartwright, the president of the alumni association, said she’s ecstatic to see the growth and development that they have been making over the past few years.

“I cannot stress the importance of us all coming together and giving back,” she stated. “As I say to people in the alumni association, yes, we are here to support our alma mater in whatever way we can, but also the citizens of this country.

“We live in this country and we are all inter-connected wherever you... Whether you are from SAC or not, it’s all about us giving back, not only to SAC, but to assist other non-profit organisations who are doing charitable work.”

While this was the BGF’s latest venture in junior development, Cartwright said under her watch, they also made a contribution to the Bahamas Diabetic Association, Pastor Lawrence ‘the Signing Bishop’ Rolle’s feeding ministry and the Bahamas Great Commission.

“With the pandemic just about over and we’re now open for business, we’re looking to doing a lot more things in the future,” Cartwright said.

“At present, we are trying to source the necessary material to complete the softball field at SAC because we have enhanced the plans for the fields.

“We hope to have the two fields completed before our next golf tournament in March or April in 2023. We are also looking at renovating our track and field surface with an IAAF certified track on our campus as we provide the best for our students and other schools who may decide to use our facilities.”

Geno Nairn, who is spearheading the completion of the fields, said they had anticipated to start the work two weeks ago, but they ran into some hiccups and they should now have them completed before the end of the year.

“We have two fields we are working on. They will be state-of-the-art fields when they are completed. One of the fields will be inter-changeable for softball and baseball,” Nairn said.

“So whenever they switch to playing baseball in the schools, St Augustine’s College will be ready on their home turf.”