The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN an effort to unite and develop the sporting community through a cross-section of ideas, two of the country’s leading sporting entities will host a gathering of the most influential persons within the demographic.

The Bahamas Olympic Committee, in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, is scheduled to host “Sports Outlook 2014.”

The one-day conclave will be hosted at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium 9am to 5pm Saturday, October 25.

Wellington Miller, president of the BOC, said it is an exercise which gives individuals and sporting bodies an opportunity to voice their concerns and learn new practices in the process.

“This conclave is really to share knowledge between sporting organisations. So what we are doing, we are inviting everybody out once they are involved in sports, to come out on that day because some great topics are going to be discussed that day,” he said.

“Sports, like any other profession, is constantly changing and we constantly need to learn things and introduce new things. We need people to know that we cannot do things the same way all the time and expect different performances. This is why we need an exchange of information. We look at sports as something very simple but it’s not, and we want to change that attitude in the Bahamas. Sports is a big invest and can create major returns for your country.”

The list of speakers will feature some of the most prominent names in Bahamian sports.

“We are having international speakers come, as well as our local speakers who will talk about the development of sports in this country. There will be speakers from the National Sports Authority, a group that I know a lot of people have questions about, you can come there and have your questions answered as to why some things are being done,” Miller said.

“We will have sports psychologists, sports managers and sports dieticians. We are asking whether you are in mind sports, physical sports, weekend sports, Olympic sports, any level really we are asking you to come out that particular day. Particularly we want to see the coaches, because there will be a lot of knowledge passed around. What you learned is what you will impart to your organisations and that’s how we will grow as a people.”

Minister of Youth Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson will be the first presenter, followed by Director of Sports Tim Munnings who will speak on financial grants.

Munnings said the common experiences, from administration to financing, will be of assistance to some struggling sporting bodies.

“How can a federation develop its sports on minimal resources and find opportunities to gain other resources? There are some federations that are operating in a more structured manner than others and we want to help those organisations to find ways to maximise their potential. With the Bahamas government pushing sports tourism, we would like to make sure that all events that come to the Bahamas bring the same high calibre of expectations and performances,” he said.

“It’s important that we bring our sporting leaders to share common experiences and opportunities for growth. The BOC and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture while we have the same objective we have different roles, but both organisations must work hand in hand.“

With the obvious limitations of the one-day conclave, Munnings said teams will be dispersed to the family islands for those unable to attend the event, with expansion plans possibly on the horizon to make it a quarterly practice with specific issues addressed.

“We are looking at sending teams to the family islands for those that may not be able to come here so it will encompass the entire country,” he said. “One day perhaps is too short but we want to get started. It’s a condensed seminar, we will have other opportunities to come together. Multiple gatherings is ideal and because there are so many topics of discussion we can look at that and have one day seminars focused on particular topics. Trying to get people to come for a series we found to be a challenger. What we may consider is quality meetings to focus on topics to ensure that we work on these specific topics.”

Other presenters will include Dr Jerome Lightbourne, chairman of the Bahamas Anti-Doping Committee, sports psychologist Dr Gary Sailes of the University of Indiana, BOC delegate Cora Hepburn, NSA chairman Leroy Archer and director of sports tourism, Greg Rolle.

From the sports journalism sector, The Tribune’s Brent Stubbs will speak from the print media perspective, while Charles Fisher of the ZNS Network will speak on broadcast media.