Bahamas Sport

Bahamas Sport

Introduction

Sport is an important parcel that steers a country towards the utilization of the existing talents in a country. In some of the countries, there are various sporting activities that are adopted by the citizens due to trails of the legacy that the country has been able to achieve since sometimes back. In Bahamas, there are several sports activities that were played since 1700 century and are still form part of the legacy in the 21^st century. Some of the major anticipated games in Bahamas are cricket, sailing, football, and basketball.

History of the sport

Sporting is one of the most anticipated activities in Bahama. The first sporting activity in Bahama was traditional horse racing in 1700 and cricket in 1846 which is live up to date. In 1936 the first sport organization was Cricket Association which was formed in 1936. The country is well known for sailing and most of the people in 1900 flocked in Bahamas for the sailing games. By 1940s cricket was being played be almost everyone in Bahamas in play grounds and even in pathways (Rolle, 2014). In 1900, the basketball, football and baseball were also introduced. Later, the Olympics began.

In 1970s, Physical Education (PE) was introduced in the education system of Bahamas leading to the increased interest in sports by students. The youth took part in most of the sporting activities and mostly Cricket. Sports such as baseball, soccer, and basketball were product of coping from the neighboring countries such as Caribbean and the United States of America. Leagues for teenagers and adults were established which are in existence till to date like the Bahamas American Football federations.

Sporting one of the major pillars that the government of Bahamas has been allocating major funds since the past decade so as to encourage and develop stability of sports. Sporting has played an important role in boosting the tourism sector (Barlas, 2000). By enhancing the Bahamas sports such as athletes, Olympics and cricket has helped the country to increase service delivery such as education, health, economic prosperity, and social cohesion. These are the main factor that has led to the development of the country in the past years.

Culture of Sports in Bahamas

Some of the sporting activities are a form of living by the people of Bahamas. For instance, most of the people sail every day while performing their daily activities. Most of the teenagers and mid-aged regularly participate in the swimming competition during their leisure times. Some of the sporting activities are adopted by the population majorly for leisure.

During the sports performed at special occasions are accompanied by various songs and dance styles, for instance, the conch style (Rolle, 2014). After sporting, the payers and supporter regularly organize for celebration where they share food and drinks whether the team has won or has not. Some of the sporting activities like the Olympics which are celebrated every year. however, there are no folktales surrounding the sports in Bahamas.

The main customs and traditions that are involved in the sports is the use of wines and Bahamian cuisines during the celebration of the sports. Bahamas is well known for wining culture where the population values wine drinking. In each festival, wine must be served which is traditionally brewed. Traditional music like Goombay also performed accompanied with traditional dances.

Some of the players in Bahamas are role models for the young players who are teenagers. For example, Rick Fox who played for the basketball in 1990s and earned several awards like the NBA Champion in 2000 and NBA All Rookie in 1992 among others is role model has been referred as role model by many the upcoming basketball players in Bahamas. Other players like Deter Cambridge and Ian Lockhart are seen as the heroes in various games including cricket. Christopher Brown and Michael Thompson are more of heroes and role models in athletes in Bahamas.

Politics and Sports

Bahama has used the sports for political advancement in the country. For instance, the country has entered several international diplomatic relations through the use of the athletes and Olympics. In addition, some of the athletes like Noel Lynch was elected as the Minister of Tourism in the country. Sir Randol was also elected as a member of the parliament and later switched to labor party.

One of the injustices in the sporting activities in racism. Bahamas is made of 90% of Africans and the remaining percentage is made up of whites and the other black people. The level of racism is high in the country (Rolle, 2014). The political system of the country has provided guidelines on how coaches and other sport heads can be disciplined whenever they exhibit racial biases in the team players.

Bahamas has an Olympic sports clubs that are headed by the Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC). Bahamas Began to participate in summer Olympics in 1952. However, the country has never participated in Winter Olympics. Bahamian Olympic won the first Gold mental in 1956 and the flagbearer was Sir Durward Knowles. The country supports Olympics by allocating enough funds that enable the clubs and players to prepare adequately for the matches. There is also strong political will for the sports in Bahamas and this inspires the players to dig deeper in their talents.

Currently, there are doping regulations in most of the games like football, basketball, and athletes. In 2019, the country was listed as one of state-sponsored doping. The athlete team that was involved in in the doping saga was expelled from the games. Bahamas Association of Athletic Association (BAA) and Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission (BADC) were accused of covering up for the athletes engaged in doping.

Sport Governance

Sports is under the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture in Bahamas. The country has crafted Sports Act that provides the rules, policies, and procedures in sports. Sports in school are managed by the Ministry of education.

The sport is managed at national level. The sport commission provides the sporting facilities and assist in sporting associations. The National Sport Division is sphered by the Director of Sport who reports to the Minister of sport or Permanent Secretary (Pettigrew, Reich, 2016). There is a Sport Council composed of prominent sport leaders and are appointed by the minister. One of the executive of BOA is always present at the Sports Council. There several sport officers from various highlands. There are various association for each type of sport. For instance, BOC and BAAA.

The Sports Council affects how the sporting activities are executed as it influences the level of support the supporting activities are supported by the Ministry. The association of BOA and government regulates the international sporting events in the country. The Sports Commission has the mandated rested upon by the Sports Act to help the teams and clubs to solve sport problems and execute the relevant tasks. There are no international sport organizations located in Bahamas. However, the country has hosted several international sports like the IAAF world relays in 2016.

Sports Offered

The main sport that is offered in Bahamas is cricket. Cricket was introduced in the country in the 17^th century and has been successfully been played locally and internationally. The cricket team has been growing as time passes and in 2001, the country was involved in tournament with the International Cricket Council and were placed second. The tournament generated some motivation for Bahamas which led the country to qualify for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. As from 2007, the Cricket teams have been playing in the region and in international tournament (Sinclair, Boger, 2006). There also Bahamas junior cricket teams that have played in the international tournaments since then.  Cricket is played on every Saturday and Sunday. The main venues in which the cricket sport are played is Windsor park and Haynes Oval.

The other games that are played in the country include racing, athletes, bowling, baseball, soccer, golfing, rugby, track and field, volleyball, tennis, water sports, softball, and gymnastics. Olympics is the second most anticipated games that is played in Bahamas and the governance have increased its emphasis on boosting the teams so as increase its performance. The existing players have represented the country at international level in 2000s. athletic sports in the country has also blossomed since 1950s with some of the players securing international awards like Christopher Brown. The sceneries in Bahamas provide an incentive for games like swimming. During the holidays the number of tourists increase in Bahamas to compete against each other in swimming.

The interesting game in Bahamas is sailing. Bahamas has the pristine beaches and seas that attractive. For instance, there are blues and holes in the sea which makes the sea very beautiful for the sailors to use Bahamas for this particular sport (Pettigrew, Reich, 2016). Also, the sea is always crystal clear with the ability to see up to 60 meters deep in the sea. There are more than 700 islands in Bahamas which provides the sailors with several options to choose from. The big number of island inspires the sailors to explore each and every time in different islands. Bahamas has heavily invested in ships and has been listed as the third country with the highest registry of ships and this is a catalyst for increased interest sailing sports.

Sport Leagues

In football there are three leagues that Bahamas is involved such as BFA Senior League, Grand Bahama Football League, and New Providence Football League. BFA Senior is the highest championship in Bahama which was founded in 1990 (Sinclair, Boger, 2006). The League contains 8 teams. In 2008, Grand Bahama and New Providence Merged to form one football League. The BFA has entered in to various cups both domestic and international. The current championship is the University of Bahamas FC.

In cricket sports, there are two major leagues such as the Nations Cup Twenty20 (T20) and BCA T2O. The Nations Cup is made up of local players from the country, Jamaica, Guyana, and other few countries. The league has been able to have four wins and one loss. In BCA there are 6 teams such as the Police, Lions, Rising Stars, Pacesetters, Westerns and St. Agnes. In baseball, there three major leagues such as the Freedom Farm Baseball League, Major League Baseball, and the Junior League Baseball.

In most of the sport leagues each team is allowed to play with other teams for a specified number pf times. Typically, the number of matches are equal in each team. However, when the teams are playing for tournament champions the matches per team are usually not equal. The winning team is based on the win-loss-tie systems. Additionally, the football leagues also include points while determining the winner. In basketball (Rolle, 2014). playoffs are highly used in Bahamas leagues. The most interesting league in Bahamas is the Bahamas Junior Sailors League.

Sport Media

One of the major role of social media is to advertise events of sports like the dates, the parties involved the length of the sports. For instance, most of the sporting events in Bahamas are advertised through social media platforms, television, newspapers, and Radio. The country has a specific radio that majors on sports (Pettigrew, Reich, 2016). Most of the real time information about sports are conveniently accessed through the radio. The radio is called The Tune.

Televisions and radios are essential in providing entertainment in sports. People use media to air some of the sporting activities in the country whether live or as repeat.  During major marches involving Bahamas, the TVs and radio stations usually pause ordinary programs and air the sports live.

The media also scrutinizes some of the major weaknesses in players of sports clubs and pushes for a change in those particular areas. For example, during the doping situation the media was criticized the management of the athletes including BAA and BOC which forced them to carefully warn the athletes and other players in different sports to avoid doping scenarios.

Currently, media is primarily in social media. Some of the media platforms that accommodate the issues of sporting is internet, social networks and blogs (Sinclair, Boger, 2006). Other media include the use of newspapers as it a statutory obligation for the responsible bodies to ensure that all the announcements and results are published in the newspapers.

Sport Marketing

There are several ways in which sports are marketed in Bahamas including the use of websites. For instance, in the websites of the of BOC there are several adverts that show various upcoming sporting and ongoing sport activities in cricket. In the Ministry of Youth, Sport, and Culture, there are several articles that show various information on sport. These adverts play a very important role in proving an explicit overview of state of events across the nation. Most of the sport bloggers provide marketing aid to the sport teams and leagues as they attempt to provide results for various matches.

Most of the teams in Bahamas have augmented the use of latest technology by making the use of Sanpchat and Instagram to create explicit experiences for the fans leading to the increased regional and international followers. These applications are highly used by most of the population in the state and region. There are various advertisers and broadcasters that promote various sports activities like the use of personalize ads. While surfing there are various ads on most of the articles and advert sites of the teams and leagues in Bahamas. These Ads use the latest technology like artificial intelligence and virtual reality to help in marketing the clubs.

Various sports teams have received different sponsorship deals and the latest was the Popeye’s Bahamas Bowls club. Popeye Bahamas Bowl is operated by ESPN. The sponsorship offered has been the backbone of the team and has supported the brand for the last five years (Pettigrew, Reich, 2016). in 2018, the sponsor agreed to extend the sponsorship to the team even after it expired. United FC, one of the eldest clubs in Bahamas, has received several sponsorship terms from the Caribbean Bottling Co Bahamas.

Athletes have received various endorsements. For example, in 2012 Bahamas Telecommunication Company (BTC) endorsed six athletes such as Michael Mathieu, Chis Brown, Ramon, Pinder and Ariana Wallace. The endorsement was attended by the Minister of Sports. Chris Brown has been endorsed several times by BTC and has benefited through fame and wealth. In 2016, there are various high school athletes who were endorsed by BTC to participate in the National Rio Olympics.

Famous Sport Teams in Bahamas

Bahamas National Football team is one of the famous clubs although Bahamas has never qualified for FIFA World Cup. Bahamas National Football was formed in 1967 and registered with FIFA in 1968. In 2011, the club withdrew from the 2014 FIFA World Cup after playing the first matches (Sinclair, Boger, 2006). The team has participated in the Gold Cup 1990 with some of the years withdrawing or not entering. The team has played one international game in Panama but lost the game to Puerto Rico in 1970. The biggest win for the club was in 2011 with Turks with 6 goals by nil.

Bahamas Cricket Association is one of the most celebrated teams in Bahamas as it has represented the country in several international cricket. BCA is an affiliate of the International Cricket Council as from 1987 and became an associate in year 2017. The team played in the World Cricket international in 2008 in division five and was able to be in the eleventh position which was a success.

The Bahamas National Basketball has represented the country at international men’s basketball level. The association joined FIBA in 2011. In 2014, the team won gold medal as a result of playing in the 2014 FIBA CBC Championship. The club has also participated in the Pan American Games twine in 1975 and 1991. The club has played in several Centrobasket Championship as from 1989 with several wins.

Recreational Sports

The recreational sport in Bahamas is sloop sailing, deep sea fishing and diving. These sports activities are carried throughout the year and the major population in Bahamas have exhibited increasing interest in these games since long time ago (Rolle, 2014). During summer, most of the people flock in the sea in the 700 island to sky-dive, swim, sail and fish. Due to the fact the country has a high number of boats, most of the people are highly interested in sailing more than any other recreational sport.

Conclusion

            Bahamas is a country of sports although it has a small population count as well as geographic extent. The most interesting thing about country is that it has been able to utilize the existing sport talents scrupulously for the interest of the country’s development. Through the support of the country governance, most of the teams in various sport activities has been able to represent the country in international and world levels. While undertaking the project, I learned that it culture influences the prosperity of a country. So long as a country values there way of living they can benefit a lot from their culture.

References

Barlas, R. (2000). Bahamas. Marshall Cavendish.

Beloff, M., Kerr, T., Demetriou, M., & Beloff, R. (2012). Sports law. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Benard. M. (2015). BTC sponsors the major six athletes.

Chris, Stewart. (2018). Why choose Bahamas for sloop sailing. TopEnd.

https://www.bahamas.gov.bs.

https://www.topendsports.com/world/countries/bahamas.htm

Pettigrew, S., & Reiche, D. (2016). Hosting the Olympic Games: an overstated advantage in sports history. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 33(6-7), 635-647.

Rolle, K. (2014). A Brief History of the College of The Bahamas’ Athletics Department. International Journal of Bahamian Studies, 20(2), 1-3.

Sinclair, D. G., & Boger, E. P. (2006). Golf tourism–World Cup Cricket 2007–Guyana prospects. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18(7), 583-592.