The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH so many of the top competitors earning their professional card and others opting not to compete anymore, the Bahamas Bodybuilding Federation is still pressing on to provide some top notch competitors for the future.

On Saturday night in the Performance Arts Center at the University of the Bahamas, the federation hopes to showcase more than 50 competitors in its 50th National Bodybuilding Championships.

The championships were originally scheduled to be a part of the sixth Bahamas Games that concluded over the weekend, but BBF president Joel Stubbs said they got the call from the International Bodybuilding Federation and they were given a citation not to participate.

“We complied with all of the requirements from WADA (the worldwide anti-doping body), but that didn’t work out and so we were disappointed that we could not compete in the Bahamas Games,” Stubbs said. “Nonetheless, the 50th version of the Bahamas Nationals will be held on Saturday.”

It will get started at 4pm with the youth arm of the federation, now headed by ‘Downtown’ Natasha Brown, for competitors between the ages of 7-15 in the various age groups.

The nationals will follow, starting at 7pm when competitors will participate in the masters in bodybuilding, to the fitness male and female, women’s wellness, women’s figure, women’s physique, men’s physique, men’s classic bodybuilding, open men’s bodybuilding and women’s bikini.

“We are anticipating a very competitive night,” Stubbs said. “All of our pros will be in our company as well. They will be competing with the amateurs in one round and then we will go into the other rounds of the nationals and novice categories.”

Since they were not able to field a significant number of competitors to stage the Novice by itself, Stubbs said they have decided to combine the novice with the open nationals, providing three segments for the public to view.

“We know that the pros will have a slight advantage in size, but this is just an opportunity for the public to see the pros, who have left the scene over the past couple of years after earning their pro cards and are not competing locally anymore,” he said.

All of the titles will be given to the competitors competing in the national division only. The pro competitors will not be eligible as they compete at a different level than the amateurs.

At the completion of the nationals, Stubbs said they will be selecting the national team from the competitors entered in the national divisions to represent the Bahamas at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships in Aruba September 20-21.

“We are hoping that we can be in a place where we can carry a sizeable team to the championships,” said Stubbs, as he made an appeal for corporate Bahamas to join the Bahamas Government in assisting the federation in the costly venture.

Clifford Dawkins said after enjoying weightlifting as a hobby for the past 4-5 years, he decided to step out on the stage and see what he is capable of doing in the novice bodybuilding category.

“You can expect for me to be very enthusiastic and to see how well I match up against the other competitors,” said Dawkins, who noted that he is currently self trained.

Speaking on behalf of himself and some of the others who are slowly departing the sport, Paul ‘Mighty Mouse’ Wilson said having spent the past 20 years, he’s been deterred by the lack of support from the country.

“It takes money to compete in any sport, but bodybuilding is very expensive,” he pointed out.

“It’s not subsidised as heavily as track and field and so when it comes to travelling, getting accommodations and registering for the event, most of it comes out of the athletes’ pocket.”

It would have been nice if some of the athletes could have gotten some type of subventions from the government, but if he doesn’t see his way clear in the immediate future, he could be joining some of the others on the sidelines watching instead of competing.

Also on hand for the press conference were one of the founding members of the federation, Richard Demeritte, and long-time executive Danny Sumner, who provided their support and encouragement to the federation.

Demeritte said he was surprised to hear the dilemma that the federation is currently going through.

He noted that he will be willing to sit down with the executives and ascertain what could be done from the government perspective to get the sport back to its former and glory days.

And while he provided an historic review of the sport since its inception in 1946 by Ben Welder in Quebec, Canada, Sumner revealed that the Bahamas Games was formed in 1962 and the nationals got started in 1973 to commemorate the Bahamas first Independence celebrations.

Sumner, however, said the sport has grown by leaps and bounds for bodybuilding - male and female - and now there are more than 11 different categories to compete in.

Having earned the distinction of serving along with Demeritte, Paul Wong, Jeremy Knowles and Donald Saunders as the first core of Bahamian judges, Sumner said the sport has progressed to the level where Stubbs has excelled as one of the top competitors to compete at Mr Olympiad and has been showcased throughout a number of international magazines.

He noted that the federation is now in good hands with Leonardo ‘Nardo’ Dean assisting Stubbs.

He noted that he hopes that the former bodybuilders would get the kind of recognition that they have done to get the sport to where it is today, celebrating its 50th year of existence with its national championships.