By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

WITH the CARIFTA swimming and track and field competition taking place at the same time in one country, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture brought both national teams together for one big send off.

A special dinner reception was held for both teams last night in the foyer of the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium, just before the 36-member swim team departs for Trinidad & Tobago today and the 78-member track team heads out on Thursday.

Both competitions will have one historic opening ceremony on Friday night at the Hasely Crawford National Stadium before the competition begins on Saturday for both sports in locations that are about one hour apart.

The CARIFTA Games will be held in the height of Trinidad & Tobago’s general elections that will take place the week after the games are held on April 28 after parliament was dissolved on March 18.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg assured the two teams assembled together for the first time that the country is expecting Team Bahamas to win its seventh consecutive swimming title, while the track and field team will give Jamaica “a run for their money.”

Bowleg, who will be accompanying the track team on Thursday, while consultant Harrison Thompson will go with the swimming team, said the mere fact that everybody will be on one island, it’s still one team representing The Bahamas.

“While the aquatics team will be going for seven straight and we expect that they will pull it off, we have a very successful track team that is headed out of here,” Bowleg said. “I looked at them (athletes) during the nationals and the BAISS and GSSSA events, also the track in Grand Bahama, so I see a very strong team.

“:I am looking for great success from both teams. So it was great for them to come together separately (in competition), but as one moving forward, upward and onward as a team intro Trinidad & Tobago.”

Bowleg said his ministry will be well represented, ensuring that the athletes get everything that they need to accomplish their goals in Trinidad & Tobago when they land on their sperate Bahamasair chartered flights.

“We are the only country where our athletes can travel to CARIFTA and when they land on the ground, their plane can say Bahamas,” he said. “There’s no other country, whose national airlines take them to any destination when it comes to CARIFTA.

“So as Bahamians, our athletes can feel proud that they can go to these destinations on their airline. So for years, we have been chartering these planes to make them feel special. We don’t want them to wait until they become elite athletes to make them feel special. We want to start this trend now and when they become elite, they know what it’s like to be treated like kings and queens.”

The athletes, accompanied by the coaching staff and their parents were feted to a dinner provided by the ministry. It was the last official event for both teams as they make their way to Trinidad.

Both the swimmers and the track athletes were invited by Acting Director of Sports Kelsie Johnson-Sills to come together in front of everybody on stage to form one unified team. Some of the team captains were given the opportunity to address the audience.

Before they left the stage, they chanted their theme song that they hope to perform as they chant for their team-mates whenever they are competing.

The track and field competition will wrap up on Monday night and the team will return home on Tuesday. However, the swimming competition will be concluded on Tuesday and then on Wednesday, they will have the open water swim before they return home.

Hopefully, according to Bowleg, the swimmers will produce its seventh-peat, while the track team will claim its share of medals to make the Bahamas a viable force to reckon with against powerhouse Jamaica, who is going for its 39th straight title and 46th overall. 

The Bahamas, the last team to defeat Jamaica, won the CARIFTA track title back-to-back twice in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1980 and here at home in 1981 before an encore in Fort-de-France, Martinique in 1983 and here at home again in 1984.