By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Filipino FAB SportsFest, featuring basketball for men and volleyball for men and women, kicked off its 11th season at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium on Sunday with Timothy Munnings, director of sports in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, doing the official honours.

But unlike in the past, according to Dr Librada Quiling-Capuli, the president of the association, this year the focus will be placed on an All-Filipino Tournament over the next 11 weeks for only Filipinos living in the Bahamas. The theme for the event is: “We are One.”

“This year we are concentrating on all of the Filipino Association members. That was a choice made my most of the players,” Quiling-Capuli said. “Next year we will have an invitational again like we used to do with members of the community like Mt Carmel.”

Jeffrey Pineda, the commissioner of the sporting committee, has restructured the league where they are now featuring a Player of the Game from each game played, based on the statistics provided by the officiating team.

All of the players are expected to be highlighted on the association’s website, which has been constructed by Aldous Sarmiento, the committee secretary.

“The chairman of our sporting committee is really applying all of the rules,” Quiling-Capuli said. “We had the rules before, but we have never really implemented them the way we are doing now. It’s more structured and the teams are all adhering to the rules and regulations.”

Other members working in the association with Quiling-Capuli, Pineda and Sarmiento are Samuel Auino, the chairman for men’s volleyball, Lerry Ramirez, chairman of the women’s volleyball and Benjamin Capuli Jr, vice commissioner, treasurer and chairman of basketball events.

In addition to the games played on opening day, the association has also held a number of competitions, including the Miss Filipino SportsFest, the best uniform (male and female) and the best bleacher competition, all of which were won by the Nobu Blazers team.

“Fast” Eddie Dames, the deputy director of culture in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, was one of the judges. The other two were Miss Teen Bahamas and lawyer Cherly Cartwright.

Four games are set to be held, starting 9m Sunday, at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium between the four teams in the league - Nubo Blazers, Extreme, Inggadom and the Warriors. The tournament is open to the public.