The Tribune

by RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Just after they defeated the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, Miami Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said the team mentioned the difficulty of winning a third consecutive NBA title just one time - months ago when the Ministry of Tourism and the Atlantis Resort hosted the heat to the historic training camp in October.

Now the Heat face an uphill battle three wins away from successfully completing their quest for a three peat, a journey that began in the Bahamas.

“We’ve never brought it up since then,” Spoelstra told the Associated Press.

The series shifted to Miami Tuesday night and the heat trail the San Antonio Spurs 2-1 in the best of seven NBA Finals.

Game four takes place tonight at 9pm at the American Airlines Arena.

The Heat opened their quest for a three-peat in the Bahamas for a festive four days of training camp at Atlantis’ Imperial Arena.

The schedule included a greeting at Odyssey Airport by the Commandoes Junkanoo group, Prime Minister Perry Christie’s attendance at an afternoon practice session and former Heat player Alonzo Mourning hosted a basketball clinic and autograph session for hundreds of high school students.

At the conclusion of camp, members of the National Children’s Choir, performed a medley of Bahamian tunes while holding cards which said, “3 Peat” and “3 Straight”.

During the camp, Spoelstra said the four-day trip from the Bahamas was a “good environment” for the team to unofficially open its 2013-14 season. 

“We want to extend our gratitude to the Ministry of Tourism here in the Bahamas. They have been very gracious to us and have been planning this for a while. We think it’s a good environment for us to get to work, get away and get back to building some habits that we will need,” he said.

The training camp initiative was apart of what executives at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Ministry of Tourism considered the forerunner to a “breakout year for sports tourism”.

Greg Rolle, director of sports tourism, outlined the goals for his department, including a new venture for the Bahamas in the hockey arena.

“Our goals are two-fold, we want to increase visitor arrival and expenditure and our second goal is to increase opportunities for Bahamians to get a ‘piece of the pie’ when it comes to sports tourism. We keep it simple and we have specific targets for what we want to do,” he said, “The Bahamas, we may be a small country, but we have big ambitions when it comes to making things like this happen.”

After dominating the market in the South Florida region with the Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins and Florida Panthers, Rolle said the Bahamas will continue to explore other markets and reach a wider audience.

In 2014, the Bahamas has hosted the fifth edition of Sunshine Insurance’s Race Weekend, the LPGA Pure Silk Bahamas Classic, promotional professional sports projects “Bahamas Night” at the American Airlines Arena and “Bahamas Bash Zone” at Sun Life Stadium and the highlight  of the year thus far - the inaugural IAAF World Relays.

Recently, it was announced that NCAA football will be the latest additions to the “Sports in Paradise” lineup with the the Bahamas HBCUX Classic (September) and the Bahamas Bowl (December).