The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the Bahamas Government starting to ease up on more COVID- 19 protocols, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg is hoping that more programmes will be initiated at the South Beach Swimming Complex.

Bowleg, the Member of Parliament for Garden Hills, was joined by South Beach MP Bacchus Rolle as they re-opened the South Beach Pools, which consists of three different sized pools overlooking the ocean, after it was closed to the public for the past three years.

“Today is the official reopening of the South Beach Pools,” said Bowleg, who was flanked by senior members of his staff. “We are now able to bring the pool up to standard for the residents and the public at large to come and utilise these facilities.

“When you look at climate change, it’s important that everyone in the Bahamas learns how to swim. We live in an archipelago and we’ve seen what happened in Grand Bahama and what happened in Abaco and the mere fact that some of those persons didn’t know how to swim, but if you learn how to swim, you have a 50-50 chance of survival.”

Bowleg said the Bahamas Aquatics, headed by Algernon Cargill, has agreed to work with the Ministry and the staff at the South Beach pools in putting in a structured schedule for persons to be able to utilise the facilities.

He also noted that Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin is keen on including swimming as a part of the curriculum and they will have access to using the facilities for their programmes from the primary to the high school level.

“So we are proud to be here today, along with the Member of Parliament for South Beach, who will also have his constituency utilise their facilities,” Bowleg said. “So they will get here before a lot of us get here.”

With a pool located in the Fox Hill Community Centre, Bowleg said his ministry has also been mandated with the proper maintenance and supervision to ensure that they have access in that area, just as the residents in the south will do at the South Beach Pools. There is also a pool located in Jubilee Gardens that Bowleg said they will be looking at to renovate and allow the residents to be able to utilise as well in their trust to ensure that as many persons are afforded the opportunity to learn how to swim.

With the pools now officially re-opened, Bowleg said they anticipate that provisions will be made before the week is out for interested persons to contact the staff to be able to arrange times for them to take advantage of the facilities.

“You will have to make an appointment so that we can have some organisation as to who is using the pools at what time,” Bowleg said. “We also want to use these pools when we want to make some repairs to the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex, not just for CARIFTA, but other events that they will host there.”

At the South Beach complex, Bowleg said his ministry did the necessary work at the facilities as they repaired some broken tiles and serviced the pumps that provide the chlorine to maintain the water. “We still have some more stuff around here to improve the facilities,” he pointed out.

“But right now we want to make sure that the most important aspect of it, the pools, are available to the public.”

Rolle welcomed the opportunity for his constituents to be able to utilise the facilities, which also includes a playground for children.

“These actual facilities have been a staple in this community for quite some time,” Rolle said. “This, in itself, has been utilised as a community centre. This is where the community would come and swim and have a good time on Saturdays and some times during the week.

“So we’re excited that this is happening. So we want to say thank you to the minister and thank you to the hard working staff here, who would have done the work. This is an outstanding job and we truly appreciate the minister and the ministry.”

While he was happy to see the collaboration of communities together and as a part of his campaign promise, he’s calling on the Ministry of Transport to look at reverting a bus system to encompass the area heading into the South Beach pools so more persons will be able to commute to and from the facilities.

Additionally, Rolle said efforts by his constituency will be made to cut down some of the bushes on the road leading into the facilities so that persons will be able to really see the beauty of the complex and at the same time feel safe in participating in events there.

“We intend to have learn to swim programmes, along with the ministry, water aerobics for the elderly,” he said. “This is going to be wonderful for the residents of South Beach and for the community.”

Bowleg said there are also plans to construct an administration building, which will also allow the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to utilise in their bid to continue to control the country’s borders as it pertains to migrants trying to get on land from the ocean.

“If the Defence Force has to use it to protect our borders, we have no problems with that,” Bowleg said. “We all are one.”

With the Ministry of Health announcing that events can now be held with larger crowds of persons in attendance, Bowleg is encouraging more of the sporting disciplines, including basketball, to put in place the necessary measures to safeguard themselves as they open up their sporting activities.