The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

OVER the weekend, the Bahamas Olympic Committee put some much needed emphasis on women in sports with some focus on the men who helped them to accomplish their goals.

On Friday, the BOC hosted the Girls in School Forum under the theme: “Women In Sports,” at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium where a number of topics were discussed.

Patsy Wilson sand Kimberley Rolle made a joint presentation on admission and scholarship opportunities at the University of the Bahamas, Dr Malinda Smith, vice president of political science at the University of Alberta, spoke on gender equality and Petra Haven addressed the audience on anti-doping.

On Saturday night at SuperClubs Breezes, the BOC staged the “Women in Sports” Awards Banquet where they recognised 25 of the men and coaches who were responsible for the development of female athletes in the country.

Cora Hepburn, a vice president of the BOC who was in charge of putting on the two events, said they were able to accomplish their goals as they brought awareness to the women in sports in the country.

“The forum for girls in school was very important because there were key issues that we felt the young girls should be familiar with,” Hepburn said. “They heard about the things that are affecting them. Petra was asked to include in her presentation, the banning of Brianna Williams from Jamaica, from competing at the World Championships for the substance that was found in her system.”

Hepburn, a former volleyball player, coach and president, said all of the presentations were timely and she’s confident that the student-athletes in attendance from Anatol Rodgers, RM Bailey, CR Walker, St Andrew’s, St Augustine’s College and St Anne’s School all benefitted tremendously.

St Andrew’s was selected as the most outstanding school and the most outstanding athlete came from CR Walker.

All of the voting was done by the student-athletes in attendance.

As for the banquet, Hepburn said they wanted to honour those coaches, whether they were men or women, who made their contributions from as far back as the 1970s to the development of the women in sports over the years.

“We had a list of about 50 coaches and administrators, but we ended up with about 25 because some of them were not interested, they were not in the spotlight anymore or some families had moved away from the Bahamas,” Hepburn said.

“But the majority of those coaches honoured, this would have been the first time that they were honoured, so that was kind of surprising to me. So that made the event even better.”

The banquet came on the heels of the BOC’s recognition of 40 women during the Independence celebrations in July. Hepburn, who was one of the women honoured, said they intend to continue the Girls in School Forum, but if possible, they will honour more coaches and administrators.

“Education for young athletes is always important,” Hepburn said. “We only had the forum for the girls in school in December because we were having the banquet.

“But next year, we will probably look at another time when we can have the forum because we feel it’s important for us to continue to give the young women all the exposure that they need to continue competing in sports.”

Honoured for their contribution to women in sports were Doyle Burrows, Ronald Cartwright, Martin Lundy, Keith Parker and Frank ‘Pancho’ Rahming for track and field, ,Alfred ‘Li’ Culmer, Neko Grant, Austin Knowles and Churchill Tener-Knowles for softball, Larry Davis for the BOC, Craig Flowers and Jim Duncombe (golf), Joey Demeritte, Oswald Moore and Edrick ‘Dricks’ Poitier for volleyball, Andy Knowles for swimming, Leonard ‘Boston Blackie’ Miller and Wellington Miller for boxing and Anthony Swaby and John Todd for basketball.

Posthumously, Leonard ‘Skinny’ Archer was honoured for volleyball, James ‘Jim’ Wood for softball, Leviticus ‘Uncle Lou’ Adderley for volleyball and track and Tom ‘the Bird’ Grant for volleyball.

For Swaby, one of the longest serving coaches in any sport in the country, said he’s grateful to Hepburn and her committee for the recognition they bestowed upon him.

“I was most of all happy to have a number of my former players there to share in the recognition for my players and friends and my wife,” Swaby said. “It made it all that much special in them saying some of the things they did in my honour.

“I also want to thank Kenya Storr-Jones, all the way in Orlando, to take out an ad in the booklet. The only reason she wasn’t there was because she applied for her US citizenship and was unable to travel.”

Swaby said he was even more thrilled to have been honoured with such a distinguished group of men.