By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

CRYSTAL Forbes is now sitting in the chair as the second female to serve as president of the Bahamas Volleyball Federation.

Forbes, the incumbent secretary general, replaced Bishop Joseph ‘Joe Mo’ Smith, who opted not to seek another term in office, beating out top official Kirk Farquharson during the election of officers on Saturday.

The elections, conducted by D’Arcy Rahming, one of the first vice presidents of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, was held at the BOC’s office during the federation’s annual general meeting. Assisting Rahming was BOC’s secretary general Derron Donaldson.

In being elected to the top post, Forbes joined Cora Hepburn, now a vice president of the BOC, who was the first female elected as the BVF president in 1995, when under administration, the Bahamas regained the Caribbean Volleyball Championship title in Barbados, a year after losing it to Barbados here at home.

Forbes, who was not actively involved in the federation at the time, noted that she was pleased to win the presidency, although she didn’t expect that it would have been as keenly contested between her and Farquharson.

“The second is just as intense and powerful because I have a legacy to fall on,” Forbes said. “It’s a wonderful feeling actually to be responsible for so much.

“It’s an awesome responsibility because I am aware of the challenges and I’m aware of the expectations and the people that I have looking up to me to make things happen, so it’s a powerful feeling and it’s humbling too at the same time because I know I have a big job ahead of me.”

During the elections, Forbes and her entire slate of officers was voted into office. They include Lloyd ‘Ratty’ Davis as first vice president; former president Don Cornish as second vice president; Grand Bahamian Helena Cooper as third vice president; Kurtwood Greene Sr as secretary general; Sydeline Justlien as assistant secretary; Keith Dean as treasurer and Christine Cunningham as assistant treasurer.

“I think this is a pretty powerful team. When I examine them individually, I have a rock and I have firm support and advice from Don Cornish, who served before locally and individually, so he brings a wealth of knowledge to the board,” Forbes said.

“Lloyd is a stalwart who has been around. He’s a little battle axe who can get the work done.

“Mr Greene is the administrator. He has that post and he will make sure we stay in line.

“Sydeline is the youngest one. She is new to this. We figure we will bring some new blood. She’s not new to volleyball, but she works with young people at UB, so we expect her to work very well with our young people.

“Keith Dean used to work with basketball, but he’s a banker and an accountant, so we will look for his expertise to help us raise the funds to get some of the things done. I think this is a solid group.”

“The elections were intense. We expected challenges, but we didn’t expect some of the people, who we thought were supporting us, were not supporting us,” she noted. “But be that as it, we were still victorious and we still have to work with those people regardless and we will still work for those people. It’s our job to serve so we are still going to do what we have to do.”

In May, Forbes said the federation will be sending off an under-19 boys’ team to compete in an international tournament so that will be their first order of business.

This year, the under-19 girls and their youth boys and girls teams will be travelling to various tournaments. The seniors will not be competing until next year as they alternate, so Forbes said there’s time to get them ready.