By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

IT maybe a little too early to start talking about high school sports, but for the St Augustine's College Big Red Machine, this is the best time to get some financial support for their dominating athletic programme.

On Saturday, vice principal Benedict Dorsett and Board Member Geno Nairn received a donation from the class of 1978, headed by Algernon Cargill, Bahamas Swimming Federation president, to assist with the development of their famed sports ground, particularly the reconstruction of two softball fields.

"The board, headed by Paul McWeeney, has asked Michael Adderley and I to spearhead a fund raising to refurbish the sporting facilities here at SAC," Nairn said. "We have a number of athletes training here and we want to avoid any serious injuries from using the track.

"We want to get the track resurfaced so that our athletes continue their dominance as they have done in the BAISS (Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools) for the past 26 years."

Nairn said they have targeted a goal of $500,000 to build two new softball fields at the southern end of the school's ground, refurbish the track and create a soccer pitch inside of the track.

Donate

"We need all SAC alumnus and anyone who wants to donate," said Nairn, a former basketball player at SAC during the early 70s. "Nothing is too small to give back.

"SAC has been giving for a number of years and now we feel its time for SAC to receive from its graduates as well as its present students and friends of SAC to help us to make this dream a reality for our current and future students."

In the next two weeks, Nairn said they hope to get the softball fields constructed so that the Big Red Machine can perform on them when the BAISS softball season gets underway.

While the fields are now a priority, Nairn said they are still pressing forward with the construction of the multi-purpose gymnasium that has been on the drawing board for decades.

He said the board is looking at making that a reality by 2020, but he said their goal is to complete the renovations to the sporting facilities by the end of this year.

Mynez Cargill-Sherman, who is on the Alumni Association's committee to renovate the sporting grounds, said she's thrilled and motivated by the gesture of the Class of 1978.

"Right now, I really want to make a plea for all SACers and the friends of SAC to come forth and help us to make this project a reality," urged Mynez-Sherman, who graduated in the class of 1982.

"For years, we've heard the talk that SAC is going to do this and SAC is going to do that. But this year, we are definitely going to make it happen. When you look at the facilities our athletes have to train on, they are not as good as they should be."

Coaching

Mynez-Sherman, who assists in coaching the girls' softball teams, said the creation of the new softball fields and the refurbishment of the track will benefit the athletes tremendously.

Jason Edwards, the head of the Athletic Department, said he's ecstatic about the news.

"I think it's something, something that we have been waiting on for a while," said Edwards, a SAC alumni, who represented the Big Red Machine in a number of sporting disciplines, including track and field as a Carifta triple jumper.

"As all SACers do, we're going to come together and push to make this happen and make sure that the legacy continues to develop at SAC. Besides the actual facilities, I also want to see future leaders in the sports world in this country and this is a good place to be home grown."

As for the upcoming season, Edwards said their staff in the Athletic Department and all of those coaches, alumnus, parents and friends, who assist their teams, will be working towards another successful year.

"We have some good things on the horizon," mentioned Edwards, a 1998 graduate. "I think we will do what we're supposes to do."

Novio Sports, a multipurpose sports based group specialising in games and event coverage, is producing an intro-active website called sacbahamas.com that will enable the public to navigate the site and view the entire programme and to make payments by credit cards.

Valdez Williams, one of the principals in charge of Novio Sports, said they intend to ensure that the SAC website stands put just as the Big Red Machine has made its presence felt in sports.