Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Home National Sports Business Lifestyles Religion Arts & Culture Pulse Spice Editorial letters Opinion Foodie Sportscope Real Talks Weekend Report PDF's Classifieds Contact About Us Archive Weather

ICC increases funding for The Bahamas By KELSIE JOHNSON ~ NG Sports Reporter ~ kelsie@nasguard.com: The Bahamas Cricket Association (BCA) will look to build on their youth development programs now that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has agreed to increase the financial assistance to Affiliate countries. The new funding policy was introduced to association and federation heads from around the world at the ICC meeting, recently held in London, England to celebrate 100 years as a formal body. President of the BCA Greg Taylor noted that the sport was in dire need of financial assistance and is pleased that the international body stepped in to assist. Taylor, who attended the centurion celebrations also revealed that the ICC has provided an international coach to further develop the youth and senior national programs. The coach is expected to arrive in the country in August of this year. "There were a number of meetings including dinners and seminars that gave us as presidents an opportunity to meet and greet with each other," added Taylor. "A number of things were discussed including the new funding policies put forth by the ICC countries that are not full members. The funding that was discussed was with regards to the Associate and the Affiliate members. The Bahamas is an Affiliate member. "There was a lot of talk about how the smaller countries can improve in the sport and in governance – regarding our associations especially from the administration part of it. It was revealed that we, not only The Bahamas but other countries as well will need a full time office in order to move up in status. Some of the things that we had discussed I see them being implemented as early as this year. We are hiring a coach from Trinidad, he will assist with the youth development program as well as our senior program. "The ICC is going to assist with limited funding. We will have to raise money off our own but they are going to assist where possible. The exact amount I can't say at this time." Even though the ICC has increased the funding for The Bahamas, Taylor revealed that the amount given is still not enough to fully support the youth development programs. He explained that he and the executive members are having a hard time keeping the interest in the sport because the senior program is not as strong as they would like it to be. According to Taylor much work needs to be done to revive the sport locally especially if the executive members would like to see the two year plan come to fruition. This plan includes The Bahamas being elevated to the Associates level and an operative administration office with a permanent staff. But before the association can be elevated they will need to have at least four playing fields in place, and an additional fourth for practice. One of the playing fields should be able to accommodate a roll away mat for portable cricket. He said: "We have to look at the youth development program and we have to look at our national team programs because without a national team program there is nothing for the youth to look forward too. It all starts with the national team program being able to compete at the various international competitions they go to, so if you don't have a good senior program then we won't be able to play in the various tournaments. So what we need is a feeder program so the younger players can move into the senior program. We have an under-15 program already and we are going to send our under-19 team to Toronto, Canada where they will be participating in the ICC under-19 Associate tournament. "We know that the funding is not sufficient but we have to see what we can do on our own to really come up with some of the funds, so we will be aggressively going after some funds and putting on fundraisers," added Taylor. "The ICC is assisting where they can financially, but their main interest is the coach and one or two other things, there are still some things we have to do on our own. "We are only an affiliate country, not like the associate countries that get anywhere between $180,000 up to almost $400,000 a year from the ICC. Our category as a junior affiliate we will only get about $30,000 because there is nothing in place for affiliates, it is either associates or full members." To date the BCA has several of the mandatory things required by the ICC for an Associate status in place. Some of the things includes the under-19 and under-15 programs, a functioning executive and weekly matches. This, said Taylor is a step into the right direction for the sport who should be able to move into the associates division of the ICC in two years time. The results from international tournaments can also elevate The Bahamas to Associate status. Thursday, July 2, 2009