SPORTS SECTION E
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016
Sweet victory
Bahamas Water Polo, Page 3
Swimmers hope to make cut for Olympics at CISC By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
T
he focus switches today on the XXI Caribbean Island Swimming Championships (CISC) with more than 20 countries in town to compete in the four-day event at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex. The biennial swim championships, which got started in 1976, will include teams from Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks and Caicos and the Virgin Islands. While the Bahamas will be out for regional glory with a 69-member team on deck, the majority of the visiting countries will be looking for qualifying performances from their swimmers for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Michael Walker, coach of a two-member team from Guatemala, said they have had a wonderful experience so far, but now it’s time to get to work. “We are here to try and qualify for the Olympics,” he said. “Gabriela (Santis) has a B mark, but
SWIMMERS from islands across the Caribbean train yesterday at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Swim Complex. Photo by Tim Clarke/Tribune Staff we are hoping that she can meet the A mark so that she can go to the Olympics. This is a great meet and a great facility, so this gives us
a nice chance to try and qualify. “It’s so good to come to such a high level of competition so that our swimmers can try to achieve
their goals. We’re looking forward to them doing very well.” While Santis has done the B standard in the women’s 200 and
400 metre freestyle, Kevin Avila is entered in the 50 and 100m free. Surprised that it’s not as humid here as she anticipated, Santis said she’s eager to see if she can achieve her goal of securing her berth in Rio in August. “Hopefully I want to qualify here. I have the B cut in the 400, but I want to get the A cut so that I can definitely go to the Olympics,” she said. “You can expect for me to swim fast. “ Aruba will be represented by 16 swimmers and assistant coach Monica Platiau said they only brought a few competitors for the 13-14 division, but the majority of their swimmers will compete in the 15-17 division. “All of our swimmers, we expect them to be in the finals and most of them to win medals,” Platiau said. “We have strong relay teams in the 15-17 and we have two swimmers who have already qualified and two swimmers who are close to qualifying.” Allison Ponson and Mikel Schreuders have qualified respectively in the women’s 50m and the men’s 200m free. Gordy Groters, in the 100m breast and Daniella Vandenberg, in the 100m free, are on the border line of making the Olympic cut. Four swimmers, two male and
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Team Bahamas named for the CAGC By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
NOT since the days of the “Young Lions” in the late 1970s and the “Young Lionesses” in the early 2000s has the Bahamas earned any major success at the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships. With the 60th version of the championships - which will have a revised format with only the Hoerman Cup for men and the George Teale Cup for women - coming to the Bahamas, the Bahamas Golf Federation is hoping to regain its prominence once again. The BGF, headed by Glen Archer, officially named the squad that will represent the Bahamas against nine of the 10 registered countries from the Caribbean Golf Association at the championships, scheduled for July 24-30 at the Ocean Club Golf Course on Paradise Island. Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the US Virgin Islands will all be here vying for the Arthur Ziadie Trophy, which will be awarded to the team with the combined accumulated score. Making up the Hoerman Cup team are veteran captain Peter McIntosh, assisted by Horace Miller, along with DeVaughn Robinson, Richard Gibson Jr, Elijah Delancy and Steven Kemp. The alternates are Paul Bowe from Grand Bahama, George Swann and Simon Fielder. On the George Teale Cup team are Inecia Rolle, Taneka Sandiford, Sheridan Robinson and Marlique Hield. The alternates are Ashley Michel and Tynesha Tynes. With the championship returning to the Bahamas, the players are looking to duplicate the performances of their predecessors. The Young Lions won the Hoerman Cup for the first time for the Bahamas in 1978 at the Princess Ruby Golf Course in
MINISTER of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson speaks during the Caribbean Golf Championships press conference at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium yesterday. Grand Bahama and regained it in 1980 at the Sandy Lane Golf Course in Barbados. That was followed by the success of the ladies winning the George Teale Cup in 2003 on the Tobago Plantation Golf Course in Trinidad & Tobago and defending it at the Our Lucayan Golf Course in Grand Bahama in 2004. “We have a very young team, but it’s very talented,” said Miller when asked to compare this year’s team to the previous ones he competed on. “I think with the talent that we have to work with, we will do very well.” For Sandiford, this is her fifth appearance on the GTC and she’s looking to make an impression in front of the home crowd. “This is the only time that I get to play in my home country and so this is an honour to represent the Bahamas, but it’s an
even bigger honour to represent the Bahamas in front of the home crowd, all our family and friends. “It’s going to be something that is going to be completely different, but I’m just asking for the support of the Bahamian people to come out and support us. Even though we are a small country, we have the greatest fan base and so we want the Bahamian public to come out and support us.” “For the past several years now, the majority of the local Bahamian golfers have been struggling to develop their games to their truest potential,” said Bahamas team manager Agatha Delancy, who served as the president of the BGF when the ladies were victorious. “Obstacles such as restrictive playing concessions, along with incomplete and limited practicing facilities are strewn
in the way of their developmental paths. Nonetheless, they hold onto their work ethics continuing to work within the uncontrollable constraints.” Veteran pro golfer Jim Duncombe serves as the head coach of Team Bahamas and he indicated that with a little bit of tweaking, he’s confident that they will perform exceptionally well. “We have been practicing and everything is looking good,” Duncombe said. “Right now, we are working out five days a week and we know that they will be ready.” The team got the endorsement from Dr Daniel Johnson, the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, who said Team Bahamas is living up to its reputation of hosting the best of the best in a number of major sporting events. And he commended the BGF and the CGA for the taking the opportunity during the championships to honour the memory of the late Fred Higgs, who made the golf course on Paradise Island one of the most vibrant spots to play. - Here’s a brief bio of Team Bahamas: Hoerman Cup • Peter McIntosh is a veteran and decorated golfer who has played on numerous Hoerman Cup teams. He has also won a number of national titles. • Horace Miller is a very skilled golfer who has also represented the Bahamas on the Hoerman Cup team. • DeVaughn Robinson is the reigning national champion. He is considered a talented and proficient golfer who has also represented the Bahamas on the Hoerman Cup in the past. • Richard Gibson Jr is a multiple time Hoerman Cupper and is listed as a very steady golfer. • Elijah Delancy is on his second Hoerman Cup team. He is a very talented golfer with a promising future. He is prepar-
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Coach Mapp lends a hand to local basketball programmes By BRENTSTUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net SHE would have been here assisting Jurelle Nairn with the staging of the seventh edition of the Ballin’ By Da Beach Girls’ Basketball Camp. But after it was cancelled, coach Charisse Mapp decided to make use of her time in the Bahamas. The head coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team at Charlotte Latin in North Carolina spent the weekend helping out coaches Pattie Johnson and Sharelle Cash with their respective basketball programmes. This is the ninth time for Mapp visiting the Bahamas
and every time she comes, she said she tries to share as much of her expertise to both the coaches and the players. “It’s really a blessing for me to be here,” she said. “I will continue to come and make a contribution as well as they will have me. I just enjoy myself every time that I come.” Mapp, a former player for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was coaching at Salisbury University where she first met Nairn, who served as her assistant coach. When Nairn decided to start theBallin’ By Da Beach Camp, the first person she turned to for assistance was Mapp. That was eight years ago
and even though the camp was cancelled this year because of the lack of a facility to use, Mapp said she had already booked her trip here so she still came to work with the local programmes. “There’s a lot of potential here. Every time you turn around, there is another kid who has the potential to do something big,” Mapp said. “To have the opportunity to teach the game, to show and give lessons in life that they will use for the rest of their lives, is something that I would like to impart with the youngsters here.” Johnson noted that after meeting Map, Ballin’ By Da COACHES SHARELLE CASH, Charisse Mapp and Pattie Johnson.
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