The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Freeport 
Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – Well-known Bahamian Coach Erold Bodie says the development of competitive sports on Grand Bahama has progressed significantly over the past 40 years.

“I am very proud that we have reached this level, and every GB should be proud at where we’ve achieved, particularly in track and field and basketball.”

Mr Bodie – a veteran physical education teacher and coach for many years – opened the door to competitive sports on Grand Bahama.

“Before I got there, there were really no qualified people to administer sports in the school system. When I came, there were several Englishman teaching sports but their ambition was recreational.

“And I came out of New York where my whole thing was competitive sports. I taught physical education, and I came to Hawksbill High, in 1973, and started coaching track and field,” he said.

Coach Bodie said he encountered had raw talent in children such as Ricky Moxey, Christine Barr, Beryl Bethel and Bootsy Russell.

He said they set the pace in track and field for the rest of the Bahamas.

“They were the beginning of the new period of track and field. They generally don’t get the credit, but they were very instrumental in the Carifta Games because all of them were champions.

“During that period we won the Carifta. We put 16 kids on the squad and it shocked Nassau. They never recovered after that,” he recalled.

Mr Bodie said that Grand Bahama athletes then began receiving sport scholarships abroad.

“We had a string of athletes who were very good that went through Grand Bahama such as Dudley Parker, Audrick Lightbourne, and Nicole Johnson, Peter Adderley.”

Mr Bodie noted that over the years, sports facilities on Grand Bahama have improved.

He said the first track and field competitions were held at the old road track at Hawksbill.

They later moved to the grass track at Freeport High.

“We could never get the right distance on that track (at Freeport High), and it was not good for running because sometimes the kids ran into holes,” he recalled.

Competitions were then held on the track at the Princess Golf Course.

This was also the venue, he said, for the Superstars Track Meet, when the “big time” American athletes came to compete on Grand Bahama.

Mr Bodie said athletes now run on a new state-of-the-art track at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex.

“We have progressed, where we have a new track, and it is a big difference for the athletes who compete today,” he said.

Even though government funding has increased in the area of sports, Mr Bodies believes that more could be invested, particularly in development.

He said part of the $10 million that has been set aside by the government for sports should be used develop a system to identify young athletes early, like the scheme that is run in US schools.

Coach Bodie said that there are still some very talented children being missed.

Grand Bahama’s Donald Thomas was never really discovered for his abilities as a high jumper until he went off to Lindenwood University to play basketball.

Thomas’ rise as an international high jump athlete began with his win at the World Championships in Japan in 2007. He also won gold in 2007 IAAF World Athletics Finals.

In 2010, he took gold in the Commonwealth Games, and he won gold in the Pan American Games in 2011.

Other Grand Bahama athletes that have made their mark internationally include Michael Mathieu and Demetrius Pinder.

Mr Bodie said a credible team of individuals should be selected to manage the funds spent on developing athletes.

“I think that is one of the things they we should do,” he said. “The Ministry of Youth and Sports should play a more important role in organising after school activities.

“Maybe paying coaches (at these after school activities), can be funnelled through the ministry, to monitor every school and make sure they have a sound programme.”

Coach Bodie believes that sports can be used to combat anti-social behaviour in young people.

“But I think we need to also bring people in who have a good background to serve as coaches – you can’t have anyone being a coach, because they may be part of the problem.

“You have to find good, strong people to put in charge.

“You can’t put people in there because they are good PLPs or FNMs,” he said.