SPORTS SECTION E
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2016
NAUGHTY
Cowboys, Page 3
National Sports Academy to be launched this fall By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
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nother new target date has been set for the much maligned National Sports Academy Programme. Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said the venture will come to fruition this fall with the launch of its first two locations - at The College of the Bahamas in November and on Moore’s Island in December. Speaking at the ceremony of recognition for Team Bahamas’ performance at the Rio 2016 Olympics, Dr Johnson outlined his ministry’s preparation ahead of the launch. “I just came from Abaco, where
we have started a track in Cooper’s Town. We are laying a major facility in Central Abaco, Marsh Harbour and putting down a small track in Sandy Point. The highlight is that Moore’s JOHNSON Island will get the first national sports academy that will be open in December of this year. It will come with dormitories, track, soccer pitches, sports science, sports medicine, new coaches all on Moore’s Island in the Abacos in this year,” he said. “You will also hear on November 10 of this year that we
are going to open up the National Sports Academy at the University/College of the Bahamas. I want to pre-empt our young athletes whose career is just about to boom. I’m going to recruit people like Pauline [Davis-Thompson], Chris [Brown] and Debbie [Ferguson-McKenzie] to come to the sports academy, but our young athletes will be the beneficiaries of a real national sports programme.” In July, Dr Johnson announced he will not seek re-election for the Carmichael constituency but boasted of his ministry’s development during his tenure. “No one, no institution, no ministry and no minster has done more for the development of sports than this little ministry and this little minster. We have pulled
17 international events over the last three years, all have come in on time and under budget and we have five more to go,” he said. “I heard them say I’m retiring, I didn’t say I’m retiring, but you’ll find out.” In March, Dr Johnson outlined the impact of the NSA Programme and anticipated its launch would be in September. A group, including Director of Sports Tim Munnings, Rupert Gardiner, Kim Rolle from the University/College of the Bahamas and others toured facilities and observed practices from others around the region in preparation for the NSA. “This will be a way to get our athletes to stay home and train. We push out about $1 million for our athletes abroad and we can
put that into our athletes training here at home.” He added in the House of Assembly: “The gap we have after high school is also an academic issue. The first NSA location will be at COB because many students will be taking college prep courses and other things to further their education as they train.” Dr Johnson said the “master plan” of the ministry will see the expansion shift from COB to the Family Islands. The country has been awarded the honour as hosts of the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games and Dr Johnson said it is an opportunity to force the improvement of infrastructure in the family islands to coincide with the
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REGATTA TIME: Kelly Kemp of H20, Rev Dr Philip McPhee, of Bowe’s Electric Thunderbird and Jed Munroe, of the Courageous, talk about the Rock Sound and Best of the Best regattas.
Sailors look to secure berths in Best of the Best By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net TWO C Class boats will secure their berths at the third annual Rock Sound Regatta this weekend in Eleuthera for the Best of the Best Regatta in Montagu Bay in December. Rev Dr Philip McPhee, consultant at the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, confirmed the latter. “About 30 years ago, me and the late King Eric Gibson went down to Rock Sound and we discovered that the harbour, in my opinion, might be the best for C Class sailing in the Bahamas,” McPhee said. “It has been a hidden secret for all these many years and we went down there and we had two
successful regattas. This year, we look for it being another success with 12 of the top C Class boats going down to compete.” The boats lined up to compete this weekend are the Dream Girl, Lethal Weapon, Lady Eunice, Whiplash, Golden Girl, San Sally, Sweet Island Gal, King and Knights, the new Bowe’s Electric Thunderbird, Catch the Cat, Fugitive and Sacrifice. At the conclusion of the regatta, held in honour once again for the Bahamian icon Gibson, McPhee said two boats would get a chance to clinch the final two spots. The boats will get a chance to compete in at least three races with the chance for a fourth one through the sponsorship of Damian Gomez, the Member of Parliament for Central and South Eleuthera.
“Damian Gomez has certainly been a MP that has supported his constituency,” McPhee said. “Every regatta in Eleuthera, he personally gives a tremendous amount of money to ensure the success of that regatta. He makes sure and gets the support of his area and I want to say that I am proud of how he put his support behind the regattas.” Eight of the boats have already clinched their berth in the Best of the Best Regatta in December by winning one of the regattas that has already been held during the course of the year. “You have to win a regatta to get in. You can’t just come and get in,” McPhee said. “All of the boats that are already in have won a regatta. If they win, they are in, if they don’t win, they will be out and they will have to
stay out. You can’t buy, creep or crawl in. That’s why the Best of the Best Regatta is starting to draw a lot of attention because only the best of the best boats will be competing.” Those boats already in are Lethal Weapon, Sweet Island Gal, King and Knights, Bowe’s Electric Thunderbird, Sacrifice, Bulla Reg, Crazy Partner and Whitty K. Kelly Kemp of H2O out of Black Point, Exuma, said they are excited about competing in the Rock Sound Regatta because they have a point to prove. “I’m looking forward to this Best of the Best. That’s why I’m going into Rock Sound this weekend because H2O is the best C Class boat out there and we haven’t qualified yet,” Kemp said. “So I want to prove to the
rest of the field that I am the best of the best and I deserve to be in that field.” Kemp said the Best of the Best would be determined by three boat builders, including Buzzy Rolle from Exuma and Mark Knowles out of Long Island. The other boat builder is Van Ferguson from Black Point, Exuma, who built H2O, so Kemp has some added incentive to go after. “I’m going to show them that boats built in Black Point, Exuma, are the best of the best,” Kemp said. “They are the slow boats. They can’t beat me. Bring the light or the heavy breeze. I will be number one.” But Richard Ross, the owner of San Sally, objected to Kemp’s claim.
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In WNBA, Jonquel Jones’ ‘long-term future is so bright’ By RENALDO DORSETT Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net HEADED into the season finale, the Connecticut Sun were already eliminated from playoff contention, but Bahamian rookie forward Jonquel Jones gave the Sun front office reasons to be optimistic about the team’s future. Jones scored a season high 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the Suns’ 87-78 win over the Washington Mystics at the Verizon Center in Washington DC on Sunday. Curt Miller, Sun head coach and general manager, said Jones has an opportunity to be a special player in the WNBA for years to come. “Her long-term future is so bright. She has a chance to be a
star in this league,” he told the Norwich Bulletin. “She can score in a variety of ways, she affects the game at the defensive end around the rim, she’s a good rebounder. She’s got a complete game. Now she’s just got to get stronger.” Jones finished her rookie campaign averaging 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shot in just over 14 minutes per game. She shot 53 per cent from the field and 33 per cent from three-point range. In November, Jones will prepare to continue her pro career as she ventures into the Korean Basketball League after being drafted No.5 by Woori Bank Hansae Chuncheon for the 2016-2017 on July 10 in Seoul, South Korea. Miller said he expects the versatile Grand Bahamian native to return to the Sun as an improved
JONQUEL JONES in action.
player. “We’re really excited about her future and look forward to her going and getting better in her international play, and coming back even stronger in year two,” Miller said. The DC area provided familiar confines for Jones to cap her season after her stellar collegiate career at George Washington and a high school career at Riverdale Baptist in Maryland. “GW has a special place in my heart, it’s where I was for four years, and I have teammates and people that really care a lot about me, and I feel the same way about them too,” Jones said. “It’s always special to come to D.C. and see all of them and have a big game.” The Sun finished the season at 14-20 and are back in the WNBA, however, they traded their No. 1
pick in 2017 to the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Jones. She surpassed her previous season high of 20 and it was her sixth double-digit scoring game of the season and her third consecutive. “This is our job. Just like any job you have to come in prepared no matter what the circumstances. I get paid to do this, and I love doing it so why not be ready when it’s time to play?” she said. “We started off rough with our chemistry because we had a lot of new pieces. We had four rookies including me. So we just had a lot of things that we had to get better at and had to get used to each other, so I think after that was settled, we really started to play the type of basketball we were capable of playing. And I think that’s going to transfer over to next season for sure.”