By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH the new school year opened, the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association is eagerly looking forward to another productive season for their athletic programme.

GSSSA president Varel Davis said while there have been very few changes in the coaching personnel at the various schools, they have put together another hectic schedule for the student-athletes to participate in.

“We are basically going with the same calendar of events as last year,” Davis said. “We will start with volleyball, cross country, basketball, track and field, softball/baseball and soccer.

“Most of our events are being lined up with the Family Islands and Grand Bahama because they want to start the national championships again, so we want to be on the same page with all of our events.”

The GSSSA is expected to start their season at the beginning of October, but she noted that a lot of the schools will be participating in the various cross country events being staged this month.

Going into the season, the RM Bailey Pacers will be without Keisha Pratt-Johnson, who has moved on to the Ministry of Education as subject advisor for high schools.

Pratt-Johnson will be replaced by Bernice Penn, who has been transferred from the Government High School to RM Bailey. 

Joining the Magic family at GHS will be Leron Taylor, who has been transferred from Central Eleuthera. It’s not known who has replaced Johnson.

“We’re always looking at making it better than the year before,” said Davis, who is going into her final year of her two-year term as president, although she’s been serving in that capacity since 2015.

“So, we’re just trying to see how things are going to work out. We know that the coaches have already been preparing for this season and they are very excited.”

Davis, who serves as a physical education teacher at CH Reeves, said their Raptors’ Athletic Department is just as excited as Government High as they are the first two schools who are expected to have a swimming pool built on their campus.

The initial is being done by businessman Adrian Fox and his Fox Foundation and endorsed by the Ministry of Education and its Minister Glenys Hanna-Martin.

Davis, however, said there’s no indication exactly when the pools will be completed and so they won’t add swimming to their curriculum until they get the go-away from the ministry,

She added that Minister Hanna-Martin has also indicated that both CH Reeves and Government High will also have a track and field facility built, along with SC McPherson, but again, no date for completion has been made.

“These facilities will definitely help with the development of our kids, so we’re very happy about that,” Davis stressed. “We are excited about it. So we are preparing our teams because everybody wants to win that championship.”

This year,  Davis said if they can secure the necessary funding, they would like to provide championship rings for their winners along with the trophies as they look forward to having “another successful season.”