Bahamas Association of Athletic Coaches plan series of activities

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

STARTING today and ending on Sunday, November 10, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Coaches will be bringing awareness to the public with a series of activities that they have planned.

Beginning at 6pm at the new Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, the association will begin their three-day Level One coaching, training and certification course that will be conducted by the United States Association of Track and Field. The facilitators are renowned coach Lawrence Seagrave and Dr Larry Judge, the chairman of the USA Coaching and Educational

Development.

As a result of the many persons who have applied to participate in the course, association president Curtis Pride said they are forced to move the venue to the new TAR stadium to accommodate everybody.

“We are anticipating having more than 100 persons participating, which is more than the room could hold at the ministry. This is probably going to be the largest track and field coaches certification that has ever been held in the Bahamas,” Pride said during a press conference yesterday at the original TAR stadium.

“We have confirmed a team from the Defence Force, the Police Force, Bahamas Union of Teachers, the Ministry of Education, Family Islands and coaches within our association. We have persons who are currently coaching and persons who are interested in becoming coaches.”

Additionally, the association is expecting at least one coach from the United States to come to town to sit the course.

Pride expressed their thanks to the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, the National Sports Authority and Virgo Car Rentals, who will be coming on board as a sponsor for the Bay Street Mile and will also be assisting the Coaches Association during the week of activities.

Shaun Miller, another member of the organising committee, said they are extremely pleased with the responses they’ve gotten so far for the course that will feature a practical and theory aspect before it is finished on Sunday.

“Our target was to reach the government schools and see if we can get a programme started where the inner-city kids could stay at the schools and start their development from there,” Miller said. “We are of the opinion that we lose too many kids from the younger kids because there is not enough interest. We probably will be looking at doubling the amount of athletes that the Bahamas can produce on the world class in the long run.”

Miller said another focus for their attention is the Family Islands.

“We are a little disappointed that we don’t have the funding to bring more coaches, not just teachers, out of the Family Islands,” he said. “We wanted to target all of the major Family Islands to place coaches in strategic points because I believe that a kid doesn’t have to move to Nassau to further his training career in track and field. Hopefully one day we will have more coaches clinics set up on the Family Islands to accomplish that goal.”

Immediately following the course, the association is scheduled to host a week of activities that is being co-ordinated by coaches Greg Cash and Fritz Grant.

The week is slated to begin 4pm Monday, November 4, with a distance clinic at Fort Charlotte.

On Tuesday, November 5, the coaches will visit the Bahamas Association of Physically Disabled, Wednesday, November 6, is Coaches Appreciation Day, Thursday, November 7, the Kids Athletics Academy will go into Carmichael Primary and teach the athletes, on Saturday, November 9, there will be the Bay Street Mile, the Kids Athletics Academy Road Race at the Bahamas Hot Rod Association track and the Coaches Grill Out at Goodman’s Bay and on Sunday, November 10, a church service will be held at Bahamas Faith Ministries at 10am.

“It’s a pleasure for us to be in a brand new era, trying to accomplish some of the things that we haven’t accomplished in the past,” Cash said. “We have a great approach now to see if we can lay the foundation for our primary school kids and see how best we can reach back and help those parents and athletes in our community where the children are more prone to do what they see others around them do.

“With the computer age, I know we have staved a lot from the things that we used to do and we have some kids that have been left behind because parents are working two and three jobs just trying to make ends meet. So we are trying to see how best we can bridge that gap to see how best we can get more people involved in the sport.”

Shannon Minus, assistant manager of operations at Virgo Car Rentals, said they are excited about being able to make a contribution to the association.

“We decided to be a part of the Bay Street Mile and the Bahamas Track and Field Coaches Association because they are dealing with our young people and they are the future. So they are directly impacting our lives and the well- being of our country,” she said. “It’s sad to see that it’s only a week to really honour them because they are mentors and they become the big brothers and big sisters for our young people, so we will try to pamper them as much as we can for the week.”

As an added attraction to what the association is doing, Sherry Murray-Francis said her Kids Athletics Academy is pleased to stage their road race for children immediately following the completion of the Bay Street Mile.

“We are inviting all of the schools, all of the youth groups, urban renewal to bring the kids down to the Bahamas Hot Rod Association at 10am on Saturday, November 9, to have some fun,” she said. “It’s going to be a great event. It’s a family-filled event. We want all of the grandparents, aunties, uncles, goddies to come out and cheer on the future generation.”

The event is designed for competitors under-13, under-11, under-9 and under-7. Trophies will be presented to the first, second and third place finishers, while medals will be presented up to 10th place, ensuring that all of the participants go home with some incentive.