BOA'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting of the Barbados Olympic Association was held last night in the Flamboyant Room at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Conference Centre.  The Secretary, Mr. Mervyn Gordon and the Public Relations Officer, Ms. Janelle Denny were the two delegates who represented the Barbados Badminton Association.

From left to right: Janelle Denny(PRO), Steve Stoute (President of the BOA) and Mervyn Gordon (Secretary) after the conclusion of the AGM

 Picture by Kenmore Bynoe

One major announcement was that the BOA's indoor facility was scheduled to be started later this year and it was stated that the completion would be in the middle of 2014.  If indeed this becomes a reality, we can only hope that Badminton will be able to benefit significantly.

Another key issue raised was that the hosting of the Caribbean Games could only be facilitated within 2017 as the earliest possible time due to the number of tournaments already scheduled in the various calender years, with Bahamas as a possible host city. 

However, one of the member federations questioned if the BOA would consider hosting the Games, in light of the fact that Barbados would be celebrating its 50th Anniversary as an independent nation, and we should start considering how we could celebrate the achievement as a sporting nation.

The core sports identified were track & field and swimming along with 5 other sports to be decided upon by the host nation.  Let's hope badminton could be one of the five. 

It was also highlighted that some associations were delinquent in signing up for the BOA's Insurance plan for athletes, which in turn seemed to inconvenience the associations which already submitted their list of names. We hope this matter can be resolved quickly as athletes and officials who travel should have adequate coverage.

Finally, the Olympic Association distributed their strategic plan to all the members present and informed them that each member association would be called in to a meeting separately,  to discuss the strategic plan with the BOA.

Afterwards, the members enjoyed some light refreshments with the Board members.