James Parker, the director of sports for the AAU in Orlando, Florida, was in town along with other members to meet with Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Desmond Bannister to discuss the plans for the Bahamas.

“The AAU has decided to start some programming here in the Bahamas, so in the coming months we will start hosting events here on the Island,” Parker said. “We want to get more teams and more athletes involved.

“We want to start some local leagues as well as start an international event. We plan to start with Girls & Boys’ basketball first and then we will move into other sports such as baseball, track and field, volleyball and Martial Arts.”

Tanya Ferguson, a former basketball player turned referee while she was in the Louisiana area, will be returning home to serve as the Bahamian director.

The local program will be based out of the College of the Bahamas.

“We will be doing a lot of regional events, which will be good for the Bahamas,” Ferguson said. “We will have a lot of teams from all over the United States and Canada coming here to compete.”

The players involved in the program will primarily be between the ages of 12-17. However, there will also be a league for players between the ages of 8-12.

Bahamas Basketball Federation president Lawrence Hepburn said for years a lot of the coaches in the Bahamas have been longing for the opportunity to expand their programs.

“A lot of the coaches wanted to go to their program, now they will have the opportunity to have them come here,” Hepburn stressed. “They will only serve to help us.

“We’re looking at employing the services of their coaches coming in to help us with our program. We will also have their coaches clinics here and we want to attract some of their tournaments here.”

Hepburn said he anticipates only good things coming out of the program.

“Our federation will be involved, but we will be reaching out to a lot of people,” Hepburn stated. “We have some coaches here that are already involved in the AAU program, but we want to get more on board.”

With Ferguson coming home, Hepburn said she will bring a wealth of experience to the program. Already, coach Mario Bowleg and Darryl Sears, of Grand Bahama, are involved in the Florida-based program.

“We want to also reach out to other sporting bodies because AAU is not just basketball,” Hepburn pointed out. “AAU is a magnet of many sports, so we’re hoping that other federations and associations will use this to get more exposure for their sports.”

Bowleg said the program is definitely needed in the country.

“We have many high school teams leaving here to perform in these AAU tournaments,” Bowleg stressed. “What AAU does is it will allow us to have the tournaments come here so that our athletes can get the exposure that they won’t get because they can’t get to travel.

“It will help, not only the Bahamas student-athletes as it relates to getting scholarships, but it will help the teams coming to enhance the national team program, especially during the summer period.”

At a meeting of the heads of the sporting bodies last week, Bahamian Olympic Association President, Wellington Miller said they were able to advise them of the fact that there is sufficient money available from both the International Olympic Association (BOA) and the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).

“The Solidarity course have $311 million available to help federations and their athletes,” Miller disclosed. “Not only can we get funding for Olympic athletes, but we can also go to PASO, who have $130 million, for those sports that are not in the Olympics.

“We can get moneys for those organizations to help build sports in the Bahamas and to help with their travel when they are sending teams off.”

Miller, who still serves as the president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Bahamas, said the only requirement is that the federations and associations must submit their plans.

“Let us know when you’re going, where you’re going and how much money you need,” Miller said.

All things considered, it looks like AAU in the Bahamas is a ”Natural”!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 3:27 pm and is filed under AAU Junior Olympic Games, AAU Links, AAU News, AAU Sports, Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.