The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IN the aftermath of the Oaktree Medical Center’s 50th CARIFTA Games, Lynden Maycock said he provided more of a “minister” than a service as the Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organising Committee.

And so while many looked at the games held over the Easter holiday weekend as successful, Maycock said he saw it as an opportunity to provide some much needed financial assistance that was needed by so many persons whom he employed and the many doors that were opened to the events that were put on outside of the precincts of the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

“CARIFTA 50 was something out of the box. IT was a 50th celebrations and it was something that was different from all other CARIFTA Games in the history of the games,” Maycock said.

“And so for the 50th anniversary, we wanted to do something extraordinary for the 50th anniversary or the games.

“With the games being held in the Bahamas as we celebrated 50 years of Independence and with Prime Minister Philip Davis, who now leads CARICOM, and they were celebrating 50 years, when I met with our NACAC president Mike Sands, we decided to make it a Golden Jubilee celebrations of 50 years for the Bahamas.”

As this was a milestone for the country and with the Oaktree Medical Center coming on board as the official title sponsors, providing some $300,000 in sponsorship, Maycock said they were well on their way to showing the greatest junior athletes in this region to the world. “We went above and beyond to make this happen with a very tight budget,” Maycock said. “Everything was controlled, everything was detailed and everything was budgeted to the tee.”

Having secured more than $1.5 million in cash and value in kind, Maycock thanked corporate Bahamas to rally and assist the youth in the region. He noted that Scotiabank, the regional bank for the games, had post from throughout the region where they have banks located.

He also thanked Aliv and the Movie Group for their assistance taking the live broadcasting of the games to millions around the world as they sent out messages and congratulations to the various athletes participating in the games.

With Christianity as the bedrock of the nation, Maycock said they catered to the Christian community during the most solden period of the year with a number of religious activities around the games,

While the festivities for the games started with the Legends Walk where Shaunae Miller-Ubio, Steven Gardiner and Anthonique Strachan had their photos unveiled, joining the rest of the Bahamian sporting icons.

Also in December, the LOC hosted the Todd Delaney’s “Victory Believe To Jesus” concert. Right after the Christmas holiday, Maycock said the LOC immediately began the countdown for the start of CARIFTA on April 7.

“We created a mini theme park around the Easter holiday celebrations where we had a manger, Christmas tree, a 50-foot plus cross and a tomb with the stone rolled away so persons could feel the excitement of Easter.

“We also invited for the first time the Bahamas brass band to perform during the opening ceremonies to perform. They came and they did perform.”

With all that they had anticipated, Maycock said the LOC surpassed their expectations in terms of the operations and the performances of the games where the Bahamas produced its best ever showing.

For the highs for the games, Maycock said it would have been the performances of the athletes, who were very inspired and enthused from the large crowd of spectators and the CARIFTA junkanoo group that provided the rhythmic music to help inspired them.

“This would have been the highest intake of ticket sales in excess of $450,000 plus that we received,” Maycock revealed. “We were aiming for half a million dollars, so that was a high for us.”

If there were any low points that thewy encountered, Maycock said a resounding yes, indicating that they didn’t provide all of the deliveries that they had promised to produce for the many sponsors of the games, especially the big donors.

“They understood that there were areas that we could have improved upon in our deliverables to them,” he stated. “We didn’t take their sacrifices and investments lightly. So we were disappointed and we do apologize for our shortfalls in our deliverables.”

Matyoock, however, said he was truly pleased with the entire staff of the LOC and the volunteers who came on board and assisted. He noted that they all made their contributions to the success of the games.

But he noted that while there were some criticism over the amount of persons who were hired to work in the lead up to the games, Maycock said he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“We had persons who came along who truly needed our help,” said Maycock, who noted that his heart was so touched that there were times he cried for the outpouring for assistance that was requested.

“We had to help because these could have been some of the same people who could have robbed anyone of us, but because we provided them with something to do, it deterred them way from crime.

“I remember one day I was really prepared to quit, but on that same day, I mother came along who needed some assistance urging to take care of her children,” Maycock said. “We were able to provide her with a job and she was able to sustain her family for a bit.”

Looking at what he did, especially in creating the cultural village around the stadium, Maycock said he was able to carry out a mandate he got from God and that was to assist some people in general. He said he was thankful that he was able to carry our the mission that God had given him through his service of ministry during the games.

Now that the games are over, Maycock, a chartered accountant by profession, said he can go back into retirement. Although he retired at the age of 50, Maycock said his chartered accounting firm was able to make a contribution to the games.

Asked if he will be around for the eighth Bahamas Games, scheduled for July or the return of the World Relays next year, Maycock said he doesn’t have that answer from God as yet. But whenever he do, persons will see him around. If he doesn’t he said he will take his time to do some traveling around the world with his wife.