Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield.

August 4, 2020

Simba French

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It wasn’t the restart that Bahamian professional basketball player Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield and the Sacramento Kings envisioned when they stepped on the court, as they lost their first two games at the NBA Campus at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend. The 2019-2020 National Basketball Association (NBA) season was restarted last Thursday, and Hield and the Kings played Friday and Sunday.

In their latest game, on Sunday, the Orlando Magic was too much for the Kings, as they fell 132-116. In their opening game on Friday, they fell to the San Antonio Spurs, 129-120.

With those two losses, the Kings are now tied for 11th with the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference of the NBA. They have a 28-38 win/loss record on the season and sit a half of a game above the Phoenix Suns. They are three and a half games behind eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies (32-35).

Against the Magic, Hield finished with 12 points, five assists and two rebounds as a reserve. He played just over 20 minutes in this match-up. Unfortunately, he finished with three turnovers.

The shooting guard checked into the game with 6:44 remaining in the first quarter with the Kings down 21-12. His first shot attempt was a three-pointer that missed. He missed his next three shots before finally hitting a three-pointer at the 1:44 mark of the opening quarter.

The Magic shot 68.2 percent from the field, building a 44-26 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Kings shot 43.5 percent from the field in that quarter.

Hield played just over eight minutes in the second half and shot 3-for-5 from the field. The Grand Bahamian finished the game shooting 5-for-13 including 2-for-7 from three-point territory.

Henry Giles III led the way for the Kings with 23 points and the Magic’s Terrence Ross finished with a game-high 25 points.

Hield shot better on Sunday than he did in his opening game against the Spurs. On Friday, he was held to just 2-for-13 from the field and finished with six points. Additionally, he went 1-for-8 from three-point land. That was his lowest point total since a three-point game on October 26, 2019, against the Utah Jazz.

The guard was only able to get off two shot attempts in the first quarter against the Spurs. His first points came in the second quarter when he hit a 26-foot three-point jumper with 11:44 remaining in that quarter to cut the Spurs lead to 43-33.

The fourth-year player second and final field goal of the night came in the fourth quarter when he made a lay-up to bring his team to within four points, 100-96, with 10:17 remaining in the game. That was his only made shot in seven attempts in that quarter as his woeful shooting night continued in the fourth quarter. He also came up empty in that quarter from the charity stripe as he went 0-for-3.

Hield had four rebounds, one assist and a steal to go with his six points.

Having a slump at this point in the season when the Kings are trying to make a playoff run is not the best case scenario for the Kings right now. The sharp shooter will get a chance to break out of the slump today when they play the Dallas Mavericks at 2:30 p.m.

Jump Line – The Kings hope to rebound when they play the Mavericks today

Bahamian professional athlete Shaunae Miller-Uibo is featured in a 128-second short video from Adidas detailing a newfound focus for athletes after the postponement of the Olympic Games

.August 4, 2020

The Nassau Guardian

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Bahamian Olympic Champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo continues to reach new heights, now as a part of Adidas’ latest athletic commercial, detailing a newfound focus after the postponement of the Olympic Games, and looking ahead to 2021.

In a two-minute advertisement that featured a cross section of athletes from different sports, and different ethnic groups, multi-national corporation giant Adidas focused on the toil and dedication of athletes during this time of COVID-19, and showed a shift in focus toward 2021. The Olympics, which were originally scheduled for this summer, was postponed to July 23 to August 8, 2021, and the commercial is entitled, ‘What’s One More – READY FOR SPORT’, referencing the one-year postponement of the games.

Miller-Uibo made an appearance with her husband Maicel Uibo, of Estonia. The couple live and train out of Clermont, Florida.

In the short video regarding the postponement, she could be heard talking about a slight disappointment at first and then staying focused on the goal at hand despite the presence of the coronavirus pandemic.

“You have to talk yourself into it,” she said. “When I first got the news, it was a lil devastating to hear. It’s that moment when you get to show the world exactly what type of talent you have. There was never a moment when I told myself ‘let’s quit’.”

Donning a variety of hair styles and colors, Miller-Uibo and husband Maicel are shown running together on the track, working out inside a gym, and even exercising at home. Miller-Uibo is the Olympic Champion in the women’s 400 meters (m), but the highlight of their athletic career together as a couple was probably at the Doha World Championships last year when they each won silver in their respective events on the same night.

In the 128-second video clip, husband Maicel could be heard talking about a renewed focus toward next year.

“One more is just what we do. Competing is like the fun part and that is what we’re missing right now. We’ve had to adjust and adapt and make sure that we stay ready,” he said.

Also making an appearance on the short video are Japanese professional climber Miho Nonaka, American Paralympic swimmer McKenzie Coan, Greek professional tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas, American multi Olympic and World Champion in swimming Katie Ledecky, British teenager Caroline Dubois who competes in boxing, and Japanese Paralympic athlete in taekwondo Shoko Ota.

Miller-Uibo said: “I’ve been dreaming of Tokyo for as long as I can remember. Coming into 2020, it was all I could think of, and I was ready to give it my all. I was running on the adrenaline you get before a big meet. There is no doubt, the pause has been a challenge. Even if we can’t be together, knowing that the world is working through this together gives me so much comfort. I want athletes around the world to know that if you’re part of sport, you’re never alone. We can achieve beautiful things when we’re together.”

Lately, she made headlines for stating that she will likely forego the women’s 400m at the Olympics in favor of the 200m, due to a complex schedule in which the two events intersect each other during the middle of the track segment of the games. Be that as it may, she said she will be ready to compete and assured track enthusiasts everywhere that she will turn in her best effort.

Miller-Uibo said it has been a challenge, continuing to train and maintaining fitness during this time of COVID-19, but it is one that she embraced and met head on.   

“While my discipline is individual, I have never felt alone in this because of the community of sport, and it is this sense of togetherness that we need to focus on at the moment,” she said.

Miller-Uibo has represented the Adidas brand ever since she became a professional athlete in 2013.

German company Adidas, which produces and sells sports shoes, clothes, apparel and accessories, is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world, after Nike.

Jump Line – Miller-Uibo has represented the Adidas brand ever since she turned pro in 2013

The name Sterling Cooke is probably not one that is familiar to the vast majority of the new generations of tennis players.

Only the older members of the national sporting fraternity would have some vivid memory of his participating role.

He was, though, one of the all-time Bahamian tennis greats. There was a time, during the early/mid 1980s when he was almost unbeatable. Cooke was the local tennis rage before Roger Smith and Mark Knowles.

He was national champion multiple times and his third consecutive title came against an up-and-coming Mark Knowles.  The two engaged in a thrilling first set tie-breaker, won 7-6 (7-4) by Cooke, who went on to clinch the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

The contest marked a pivotal point in Bahamian tennis. Cooke was to soon leave the game to concentrate on law studies, and Knowles was on the rise, headed towards an elite circle of world doubles players.

 But on that day back in June, 1986, Cooke demonstrated superb court skills and gave a clear indication of a lasting career, at a high level. But, he opted to move away from the game. It was a huge loss for tennis and Bahamian sports generally.

He will forever be considered by some as the player who never really stayed around long enough to maximize his potential, but his contributions while he reigned supreme over local tennis, enhanced the national sports brand.

Cooke was one of the true gentlemen of sports. He went about his on-court business sort of nonchalant at times, and, did have matches, it was expected, he would have closed out earlier.  

His success rate though, compared favorably with the best of the best in Bahamian tennis, through the years.

During his years at the top, he was as dominant as George Carey in a much earlier era; as consistent as the one who spawned three decades of greatness, Leo Rolle; as tough as the mercurial Ed Archer who preceded Rolle; tenacious like John Antonas who overlapped Rolle’s glittering career; stylish as Smith who represented the Bahamas superbly and later became a noted trainer/mentor in the world of tennis; and fundamental as Knowles, the grand slam doubles winner.

Yes indeed, Sterling Cooke is cemented among the great tennis players in Bahamian history. Despite his star status three decades ago, he was humble and not a big fanfare item, other that when he was making shots down the line or nifty returns.

At the very least, now, having taken a trip down memory lane with me to focus on Cooke, many will recall his exploits, and still many more will now become knowledgeable of yet another Bahamian sporting icon, in the forgotten category.

• To respond to this column, kindly contact Fred Sturrup at sturrup1504@gmail.com or on WhatsApp at 727-6363 

Monday, December 10, 2018

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#ROLANDO ‘Lonnie’ Greene, in his first year as head coach of the University of Kentucky Wildcats’ track and field team, liked what he saw from freshman sprinter Devine Parker in her collegiate debut at the Hoosier open indoor meet in Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday.

#The St Anne’s High School graduate posted one of the nine victories and was also third in the 60 metres as she helped to mark the official welcome meet for Greene from Purdue University and his new coaching staff that includes fellow Bahamian “Golden Girl” Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie.

#At the same time, it was a reunion of sorts as Greene and Ferguson-McKenzie re-connected with Norbert Elliott, now the new head coach at Purdue University. Elliott, likewise, got some sterling performances from sprinter Samson Colebrooke and jumper Tamar Greene.

#But if that wasn’t enough for the Bahamian connection, high jumper Etienne Jyles soared to victory for Indiana University.

#Parker was impressive

#After placing second in her heat of the 60 metres in 7.53 seconds to advance to the final with the third fastest time, the clock malfunctioned in the final and her time was not recorded for her third place. Greene said if the clock was working properly, he felt Parker would have punched her ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships, scheduled for March 8-9 in Birmingham, Alabama.

#But Parker came back in the 200m and easily won in 24.20 in her introduction to the 200m one-lap bank track.

#“She had a very good performance. I thought her 60m was a very good race in the final as the race timed in 7.1. In my mind, it looked like that as she was a very close third,” Greene said.

#The 200m, she won, but I thought she was a little bit conservative being her first time running on a bank track. But for the most part, she did a very good job. For her inaugural freshman campaign, I was very pleased with it. There’s a whole lot more to come from her.”

#With her next meet scheduled for January 11 in a home meet in Kentucky, Greene said he has his money on Parker qualifying for NCAAs in the 60m, but the 200m is a long shot.

#Colebrooke has

#surprising performances

#Queen’s College graduate Samson Colebrooke, making his junior debut for Purdue University after he completed his two-year tenure at Barton Community College, won his heat of the men’s 60m in 6.72 for the fastest qualifying time in the final. However, he had to settle for second in the final with identical times of 6.68 with Indiana University’s Rikko Brathwaite.

#The 21-year-old Colebrooke, taking advantage of an increase in his size, came back and pulled off the victory in the men’s 300m in 33.87.

#“What we did with him was to increase his size in the weight room and so that was a surprised opener,” Elliott reflected. “He’s been working out really well. We knew that he would run fast, but he surpassed our expectations. He trains with our Big Ten champion Was Williams, a CARIFTA champion from Jamaica. So he’s literally training to run well, but I didn’t think he would run that fast.”

#Greene double

#dips in top five

#In his double duties on the field for Purdue University, Greene soared to a fifth place finish in the men’s long jump with a leap of 6.84 metres or 22-feet, 5 1/4-inches. His team-mate Jah Strange won with a distance of 7.15m (23-5 1/2).

#Greene bounced back in the triple jump, clearing 15.76m (51-8 1/2) for third place. The winner was Indiana University’s Eric Bethea with a best of 15.82m (51-11).

#“This is Tamar’s completion of year one because he came to us last spring and we didn’t have a whole lot of time to train and prepare him,” Elliott said. “He sort of jumped right into it without a whole lot of preparation because he had some visa issues and he was working on those things to get over here.

#“So this is really the end of year one, but he’s had the fall to train and now Tamar is showing the kind of fitness that we know he could have shown, had he had time to train when he first came to us. So we look at Tamar to have a really great year.”

#Elliott projected that both Samson and Greene are potential Big Ten Conference champions. “Both of them are capable of qualifying for the National Championships and anybody who qualifies for the National Championships is an elite athlete,” said Elliott, a former elite athlete himself in the men’s triple jump at the University of Texas-El Paso.

#“Both of those two guys were among the Bahamas’ top junior athletes, so they are definitely two athletes we look forward to seeing compete in the future. Our goal is to just make sure they stay healthy.”

#Etienne wins

#In the men’s high jump, Etienne took the title with a leap of 2.15m (7-0 1/2). He passed his first three attempts at 1.92m (6-3 1/2), 1.97m (6-5 1/2) and 2.01m (6-7) on his first attempt and cleared his opening height at 2.05m (6-8 3/4) on his first attempt. He passed again at 2.09m (6-10 1/4) and 2.12m (6-11 1/2) before he returned to action to clear 2.15m (7-0 1/2) on his second attempt.

#With only two misses left, he couldn’t clear 2.22m (7-3 1/4), but it was good enough for the 2016 New York State champion for Stony Brook School to hold onto the win. His nearest rival was Rahman Minor of Kentucky with his best of 2.09m (6-10 1/4).

#Happy Reunion

#The meet turned out to be a true Bahamian connection with coaches Greene and Elliott, who a year ago were the head and assistant coaches at Purdue, while Ferguson-McKenzie was an assistant at the University of Houston. Now Greene is the head coach at Kentucky with Ferguson-McKenzie as his assistant and Elliott moved up to take over as the head coach at Purdue.

#“It was a really special moment to be back with them,” said Elliott, who was also a coach of Ferguson-McKenzie when she competed at the University of Georgia. “It came down to the 4 x 400m relay and for a minute there, I thought we would have won. But we finished second behind Kentucky. That would have been some serious bragging rights that I would have had on Lonnie. But his kids came out on top.”

#For Greene, the feeling was more reminiscent of his time at Purdue. “It was great. It was great. We normally win that meet in December and to be in that facility in another school, it was weird,” Greene pointed out.

#“Every time they would mention someone from Purdue, I would say ‘oh that’s my kid.’ But I had to catch myself. Norbert is doing a great job as the athletic director in track and field. It was good to see my friend at the end of the day and compete competitively against him.

#“In my humble opinion, it was good. Everybody at the meet was asking about the colours I was wearing. They were so used to me being in black and gold and now I’m in blue and white. They say those colours don’t even look normal on me. But it was a good meet and it was good to go up against one hell of a coach in Norbert Elliott.”

#The two schools will be at the Razorback Invitational January 25-26 in Fayetteville, Arkansas and again at the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina February 8-9.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter​

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net​

#A week before the United States of America shut down the country because of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Bahamian coach Fritz Spence had his second successful bone marrow transplant surgery to help him overcome his battle with leukemia (AML).​

#The former triple jumper who was originally coached by Fritz Grant in South Andros before he came to Nassau where he was then coached by Minister of Works Desmond Bannister, Mark Hall and Sterling Moss, was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, Spence had a relapse in 2013 and again last year. ​

#Spence, now in his 14th year as an assistant coach at Penn State, said he’s coping day by day with the support from his family and the administration and staff at school.​

#“My wife has been my rock. She has gotten me through the tough times, so I rely on her for a lot of things,” said Spence, who is married to Teri and the proud father of four children and a granddaughter. ​

#“I try to work my way back each time. So I’m on the upside. Penn State has been there with you throughout the lapses and I am grateful to be a part of a programme that takes care of its people.”​

#The latest surgery was done on March 11 at the Penn State Milton S Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a week before President Donald Trump shut down the American economy to deal with the coronavirus. Had he not done it then through an unrelated donor, Spence said he would have been on a waiting list as he dealt with the current lockdown.​

#“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m on the upside,” Spence said. “I am ready to get back to work. I’m working from home, still recruiting and doing stuff. I’m feeling good.​

#“Some days are better than others, but I just have to continue to push through. I’ve been through it before, two times already. So I know what it takes to get back to where I need to be. It’s a good and a bad thing, but it’s good that I have that experience to fall back on.”​

#Spence, now 47, was first diagnosed at 35, but that has not kept him from fulfilling his long-time dream of being a coach and giving back to his country and the community.​

#“Having an opportunity to coach at Penn State is just my second school. I’ve only been coaching at two schools, so I’m very fortunate, not to have been all over the place,” he said.​

#“I started at Missouri State and now I’m at Penn State. But having the opportunity that I have here at Penn State, it’s unbelievable and I’m thankful to my mentors like Mark Hall, Desmond Bannister and Fritz Grant. They are responsible for where I am today.”​

#One day, Spence said he would like to come back home and make a contribution to the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, who gave him a head start as a triple jumper on the CARIFTA Games’ team back in the late 1980s before he headed off. ​

#“I will continue to work and to improve myself and let everything take care of itself,” Spence said. ​

#At present, Spence said he’s abiding to the lockdown measures, considering the fact that they are so close to the hot spot in New York where the majority of the coronavirus cases in the United States have occurred.​

#“I’m working remotely at home with our student-athletes on a daily and weekly basis,” he said. “I’m still dealing with them. We’re finally done with school because we are on the summer break. But I’m still recruiting, so we’re still functioning as if we are preparing for the fall semester in August.”​

#Spence, however, said Penn State unfortunately doesn’t have any student-athletes on their roster, following the departure of Eleuthera native and St Augustine’s College sprinter Keianna Albury, who graduated last year.​

#Albury followed on the footsteps of another SAC graduate, triple jumper Danielle Gibson, who left Penn State a few years ahead of her. Penn State is also the alma mater of quarter-miler Mike Sands, the new president of the North American, Central American and Caribbean region of World Athletics, the global governing body for track and field.​

#“I would say to Bahamian student-athletes, give Penn State a choice to consider,” Spence said. “You can go online and take a virtual tour and check out our top-notch facilities indoors and outdoors.​

#“We have a great educational system. We’re known for producing great student-athletes because we push our students and our athletes. So we just don’t focus on student-athletes coming in and just being successful on the track. We also want to be successful in the classroom.”​

#At the end of the day, Spence said that is what will sustain the student-athletes when they depart and will have to support their own families one day.​

#As one of the Bahamians in the coaching fraternity in track and field in the United States, Spence said he’s very fortunate to be able to do something that he enjoys doing.​

#During his tenure, he has been named five times as the USTFCCCA Assistant Coach of the Year. He has also produced 30 All-Americans, including 21 individual conference champions.​

#At Penn State, Spence has also had the opportunity to rub shoulders with Bahamian coaches Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene and Norbert Elliott. As arch-rivals in the Big Ten Conference, Greene served previously as the head coach for the Purdue Boilermakers while Elliott was an assistant coach. ​

#Greene has since left Purdue to take up the head coaching job with the University of Kentucky where Bahamian “Golden Girl” Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie is now his assistant. In his departure, Elliott has been promoted to take over the head coaching chores at Purdue.​

#For now, Spence said he’s quite content making his contribution at Penn State, coaching the Nittany Lion wom­en’s jumpers and multi-event athletes. He has had outstanding results in his time with the Nittany Lions, overseeing 22 All-America efforts, nine top-5 NCAA finishers, six Big Ten champions, also contributed to two top-four finishes at the NCAA Championships (2008 and 10) a Big Ten triple crown (2009 and10), USTFCCCA Scholar Team of the Year (2010) and nine Big Ten titles.

#Prior to coming to Penn State, Spence coached 14 conference champions, 10 NCAA qualifiers, and eight All-Americans at Missouri State University. He was a part of a coaching staff that won four Missouri Valley Conference Team Championships in both the indoor (2003 and 04) and outdoor (2002 and03) seasons.

#In December of 2015, Spence graduated from Missouri State University with a Mas­ter of Science in Administrative Studies (MSAS)/Applied Communication. He is also certified in CPR, First Aid and as a Fitness Trainer through the International Sports Sciences Association.

#Spence and his wife, Teri, reside in State College. They have three daughters, Ashlie, Keiva and Ale’ka one son, Ashton and a granddaughter, Aria.

Coach Norbert Elliot embraces a student athlete at Purdue University, where he will head the Boilermakers’ track and field programme.

Friday, July 6, 2018r

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#TWO days after they lost Bahamian head coach Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene to the University of Kentucky, Purdue University stayed at home in selecting his replacement as Bahamian assistant Norbert Elliott moved up the ladder to continue to develop the Boilermakers’ track and field programme.

#Purdue vice president and athletics director Mike Bobinski announced yesterday that Elliott will become the second consecutive Bahamian head coach after it was announced on Tuesday that Greene had moved to Kentucky for his head coaching job.

#“Based on the dramatic improvement and recent success of our programme, it made great sense to look first within our own staff for our next head coach,” Bobinski said. “In Norbert Elliott, we have a proven and talented coach who has been instrumental in the recruitment and development of many of our most successful student-athletes.

#“Norbert is a quality person with tremendous character, and he brings experience as a former head coach, a top-level assistant at nationally successful programmes, and as an Olympic and World Championships coach. I am excited for him to lead our programme.”

#Elliott, married to assistant track and field coach and former Boilermaker standout Angela (Goodman) Elliott, has been at Purdue for six years, most recently serving as associate head coach since July of 2015, working with the sprinters, hurdlers, horizontal jumpers and relay teams.

#“I am truly honoured to be named the head track and field/cross country coach at Purdue University,” Elliott said. “I would like to thank Mike Bobinski and Calvin Williams for having the confidence in me to lead one of the best track and field programmes in the country. We will continue to build on all our successes. I am excited and can’t wait to hit the ground running in this new adventure.”

#Elliott, a former Bahamian national triple and long jumper who hailed from St Augustine’s College, helped the Boilermakers’ women finished eighth at the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships and were 2017 Big Ten outdoor champions. They placed 14th at the last two NCAA Indoor Championships. At the same time, the men finished 13th and 15th at the 2016 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships, respectively.

#Williams, Purdue’s assistant athletics director, said it was good to recognise Elliott for his accomplishments.

#“Coach Elliott has a history of developing talent and is a proven leader,” said Williams, who oversees the track and field programme. “I have every confidence he will continue the momentum he has helped establish at Purdue over the last six years.”

#During Elliott’s tenure, the women’s sprinters and hurdlers have experienced tremendous success, headlined by eight-time All-American, including Bahamians Devynne Charlton, another SAC graduate who recently signed a pro contract to run for Puma, and sprinter Carmiesha Cox, a graduate of Aquinas College, who both earned All-America honours as a member of 4×100-metre relay teams, running some of the top 60-, 100- and 200-metre dashes in programme history.

#On the men’s side, where Bahamian sprinter Keanu Pennerman from St Anne’s High, quarter-miler Kinard Rolle from SAC and Tamar Greene are still on the roster, Elliott’s first men’s sprint superstar with the Boilermakers was Raheem Mostert, who took home four gold medals at the conference meets in 2014 and was named the Big Ten Indoor Athlete of the Championships.

#Mostert topped the field in both the 60 metres and 200 metres indoors and followed up with outdoor 100-metre and 200-metre titles, setting Purdue’s 60-metre record and posting top-five school marks in all four races.

#Throughout his coaching career, Elliott has now coached more than 50 All-Americans and eight individual NCAA champions.

#Elliott came to Purdue from Campbell University, where he was the head track and field and cross country coach in 2011-12. Prior to his stint with the Camels, he was an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee for seven years. He previously served as head coach at Murray State University for two years, assistant coach at the University of Georgia for nine years and assistant coach at the University of Texas-El Paso for three years.

#While with Tennessee, Elliott was the recruiting coordinator for Caribbean student-athletes. He also helped coach his student-athletes to 29 All-America certificates, two NCAA Championships, eight SEC individual championships and five school records. Among his standouts was Aries Merritt, NCAA champion and current world record-holder in the 110-metre hurdles. His excellence with the sprints led Elliott to be honoured as the 2007 Mideast Assistant Sprints Coach of the Year.

#Elliott boasts an impressive international coaching résumé, as well.

#In 2001, Elliott was selected as the head men’s team coach of the Bahamas at the World Championships in Canada. There, he coached the men’s 400-metre world champion, women’s 200-metre world champion and bronze medallist, and men’s 4×400-metre silver medal team.

#At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Elliott coached Debbie Ferguson, a finalist in the 100 metres and 200 metres and a member of the gold-medal winning 4×100-metre relay team. Elliott coached jumps for the World Junior Champions Team for the Bahamas in 2000 and the Bahamian World Championships women’s finalists in the 100m and 200m in 1999. He has also coached numerous World Championships medallists from the Bahamas and Iceland, including a stint as head coach of the Bahamas national team at the Central America and Caribbean Meet in Guatemala in 1995.

#Elliott, 55, was a two-time Olympian, representing the Bahamas in the 1988 and 2992 games in the triple jump. He has also competed on every other level of competition, including the Commonwealth Games, Pan American, Central American and Caribbean Games as well as the CARIFTA Games, winning numerous medals of every colour.

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

COACH Norbert Elliott shares a special moment with Tamar Greene (left) and Samson Colebrooke.

#By BRENT STUBBS

#Senior Sports Reporter

#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

#THERE has been much concern about the effect of student athletes travelling to the United States to continue their education in the COVID-19 pandemic.

#On Monday, the US Department of Homeland Security announced temporary exemptions for non-immigrant students for the fall 2020 semester, which indicated that students currently enrolled in schools and/or programmes that are fully online will either have to depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in person instructions to remain in lawful status.

#When contacted to get their take on these new requirements, at least one coach, Bahamian Norbert Elliott at Purdue University, said the rule will not affect the Bahamian athletes currently enrolled there.

#“Those students, who don’t have a visa, they can’t come in the fall (August), they will have to come in the spring (January),” said Elliott, a former Olympic triple jumper who competed for the University of Texas at El Paso following his graduation from St Augustine’s College.

#At present, Elliott has three Bahamians on athletic scholarships with the Boilermaker track team at Purdue. They are sprinter Samson Colebrooke and jumpers Tamar Greene and Vinajah Adderley.

#“Since they are currently enrolled as international student athletes, they are not affected,” Elliott said. “Vinajah and Tamar are both home on vacation in the Bahamas and they will be allowed to return without any interruption and join Samson on the team. Samson is already here. He stayed for summer school.

#“For our international students, we’ve never advised them to take online courses. The university is not resorting to that. I know some schools are doing it. Harvard University is doing it for the fall for all online courses, but Purdue is going to do some partial online and some face-to-face classes. So those international athletes wont be affected by those new US Government regulations.”

#Elliott, however, said those athletes who have not yet received their student visas will definitely be affected this fall.

#He noted that they were trying to get an athlete in from Trinidad & Tobago for their freshman year this fall, but that won’t happen until the spring because of the new restrictions.

#“These restrictions are changing every day as regards to COVID-19,” Elliott noted.

#“Right now, we are having some online classes and some face-to-face classes, but I think we will be okay with the international students that we have on our roster.

#“We are really monitoring that very closely, but it shouldn’t be a problem for them. They are not issuing any new student visas and I think that is probably the case with most schools. The US Government is not issuing any new visas for student-athletes. So that will pose some difficulties.”

#With so many student-athletes looking at the scholarships available to colleges and universities in the United States, not just in track and field, but across the board, Elliott said it’s going to be difficult to comply to the social distancing and the wearing of the mask. “We have a new study out that shows that this COVID-19 is affecting more of the younger generation,” Elliott said.

#“So it’s going to be hard to keep them in place, especially those who are attending colleges and universities because they are more adventurous. So if those students can’t come on campus and train, this will really modify what we do this season in all sports across the board. Right now, they are looking at pushing the start time for basketball and football, the bigger sports, further back to the spring as opposed to the fall.”

#Athletic directors in all of the schools are on pins and needles as they work from home trying to figure out how to make the adjustments to their programmes and when this pandemic will end.

#Purdue University is scheduled to open up on August 24 and their fall semester will actually end on November 24, which means that all of their holidays and regular breaks will be cut out this year.

#“What they don’t want is to take a break and having students going to parties and coming back with the virus,” Elliott stated. “So they are really condensing the school year to compact anything into a shorter space of time.

#“In that way, the schools will try to eliminate the spread and the contact tracing of the virus because once the students are in school, there will be no need for them to have to do all of the things that they did off the campus like they did in the past.”

#In Lafeyette, Indiana where Purdue is located, Elliott said they have contained the virus so far, but a lot of the southern states around them are not so fortunate. So he’s encouraging his athletes to do their part to try and control the spread of the virus by following the guidelines and the protocols that are in place.

#While there has been a vast increase in cases of the coronavirus in Florida to more than 214,000 and over 3,000 deaths, there are about 49,000 cases in Indiana with over 2,000 deaths.

#The United States has confirmed more than three million cases and over 133,000 deaths.

#Worldwide, there are over 11 million cases and more than 539,000 deaths.The Bahamas has 104 cases, 89 of which were recovered, with 11 deaths.

Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene (left) is shown with athletes Devyenne Charlton and Carmiesha Cox and coach Norbert Elliott.

f Friday, October 12, 2018

#ROLANDO ‘Lonnie’ Greene is grateful to have been afforded the opportunity to move from one head coaching job in college track and field to another.

#In his transition from Purdue University to the University of Kentucky, Greene intends to continue to strengthen his Bahamian connection with his coaching staff and the athletes on the team.

#Over the weekend while here to participate in the Bahamas Athletic Foundation’s Coaches Professional Development Conference at SuperClubs Breezes, Greene shared a passionate interview on his road to success from a sub-par jumper at AF Adderley High School to one of the elite coaches in the NCAA Division One ranks.

#“When I went to college at Murray State University, I was a bio-chemist major out of AF Adderley,” Greene said. “When I went there, the biological science and physics was great. I never took chemistry in high school, so it ran me out of the bio-chemistry class. I realised that I couldn’t be successful there.

#“So I ended up not knowing what to do and so I went into career planning and placement and they gave me this multi-talented test to do. I took it and the professor said with the talent that I have, I need to be working with people. I looked at this dude and I said I wanted to be a doctor. That was my flesh, but God had something else in plan and in store for me.”

#At grad school at Southwest Missouri State University, Greene said he called Patrick Bailey, who was at Central State Missouri, and he encouraged him to pursue his new found dream of becoming an athletic coach and after he engulfed himself in everything that had to do with the sport, he finally got his first break as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas.

#“For me, did I ever think I would be a college coach, ‘no,’ but I know I’m in the place where God would have me to be,” he said. “I know that, so I’m just going to continue to be a good steward of what he has blessed me with, holding people to the highest expectations.”

#Trying to hold back the tears in his eyes, Greene said he could not have had a better experience than he did for the past six years as the head coach at Purdue where he transformed the Boilermakers’ athletic team as the toast of the Big Ten Conference where he earned a number of individual accolades.

#“I’m grateful for that opportunity,” he said. “They gave me a shot, they gave me an opportunity when I knew I was ready. I went there for the interview and after I got the job, I was ‘Lord, why did I get this job. Why couldn’t I get a Texas or Florida or a programme that was banging.

#“But I think when I looked back at it all, he did it that way because of the impact that he was going to allow me to make. I think it was great that way. I interviewed for the Texas job. Notre Dame wanted me to come this year, but I told them I wasn’t interested. Then Kentucky and the way they orchestrated it, I just had to work on some things from a professional standpoint.”

#That came as a result of the journey that he went through at Purdue. “I would not have done it any other way,” Greene reflected. “I thought we were successful, I thought we were making an impact, I thought we were graduating kids with some engineering degrees, business degrees and we had kids that were 10, 12, 16 times All-America.

#Bahamian Devynne Charlton, just to name one, was 12-time Big Ten champion, 12-time first team All-American, Athlete of the Year on numerous occasions.

#One of the highlights during his tenure in Purdue, according to Greene, was not winning titles or helping his athletes to shine, but it was when one of his former athletes returned and introduced his son, whom he named Rolando after him.

#“When he said coach Rolando, I want you to meet Rolando, I just broke,” Greene stated. “He could have named his son after his dad, but he named his son after me. And this was a Caucasian kid, this wasn’t a black kid. After I pulled myself together, I asked him how is the kid going to go around with a black name and the father said to me, ‘he’s going to be fine.’ He lives in North Dakota as an engineer.

#“Watching Devynne run 7.8 for the 60m hurdles, watching her just barely losing the NCAA title in the 100 hurdles, knowing that she came to us running 13.8 and now running 12.6 and is one of the better hurdlers in the world and watching her make the World Championships as a student in college, knowing that she is getting a marine biology degree.

#Those were considered some of his highlights, coupled with watching another Bahamian Carmiesha Cox go to graduate school and work on her MBA and being a multi-time All-American. Those are the things that Greene said he will cherish for the rest of his life.

#If there was any low point on his pathway, Greene said he had to ask his wife, LaTayna Stewart-Greene, to give up a principal job and follow him to Purdue where he had to convince the athletes there not only to be the best they can be, but at the same token, try not to finish last in the conference.

#“The proof is in the puddling because Purdue is now a nationally respected institution ranked in NCAA division one track and field,” he pointed out.

#Looking back at all of the successes at Purdue, Green said he could not have done it without the coaching staff that he was blessed with. He attributed a lot of his successes to persons like fellow Bahamian Norbert Elliott and his wife, who served as assistant coaches. Now in his departure, Norbert Elliott has assumed the head coaching job at Purdue.

#“Norbert was one of my heroes in track and field. When Norbert came home from UTEP as a junior or senior, he came home for high school nationals and I was jumping with a hamstring injury and everybody was gravitating to Wendell Lawrence and Dudson Higgins,” Greene recalled.

#“Norbert saw me and he called me to the fence. He asked me what happened to my hamstring and I told him I pulled it. He said move your approach three feet back and run. He said tear the hamstring and jump. That simple advice allowed me to jump 49-feet, 2-inches to get a scholarship to go to college.”

#Surprisingly their paths crossed again in the United States where they were assistant coaches. In their conversations, they both agreed that if either of them got the call as a head coach, they would seek each other out to work as their assistant.

#“God just had it that I got the call first at Purdue and when I called him and asked him if he was ready to put his money where his mouth was, he said ‘let’s do it,'” Greene said. “It was great. But I was amazed at the end of my tenure at Purdue how God worked it out where he put all the cards in my hands and I was able to recommend Norbert Elliott to take over and I gave them all of the reasons why.

#“So that the programme don’t die, I recommended that they give him the chair. They might lose a body or two, but they won’t have a mad exodus out of Purdue. God just gave me a voice and I was able to use it for good and he was the one. Purdue got it right when they hired him to take over as the head coach after I left.They got it right. The men will be great. The women might take a step back, but they will get it together.”

#From one Bahamian assistant to another, Greene said it didn’t take rocket science for him to lure “Golden Girl” Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie from the University of Houston as an assistant to join him at Kentucky.

#“She’s a Bahamian. They told me I had to hire a woman. She’s a Bahamian, but I knew she was out there, so she would have had to tell me no,” Greene stressed. “Charity begins at the house. Charity begins at home. She’s a home girl. I’ve known Debbie from she was a little girl at St Andrew’s School and I tried to recruit her back then, but I was just too young for coach Pancho (Frank Rahming) to entrust her to me, so they sent her to Norbert, who was an assistant at the University of Georgia.”

#Whenever their paths crossed at meets, Greene said he always treated Ferguson to a “turkey leg” meal and so when the opportunity presented itself this year for her to work with him at Kentucky, he couldn’t resist and she quite naturally accepted the offer.

#“She’s doing an excellent job right now,” Greene said. “She’s the conduit between myself and coach Hall. So when you have an opportunity to help another Bahamian, who wouldn’t. I know I would. You tell me you’re from the 242, I would help you. It’s just the Bahamian pride, but I know she will do it in an excellent way.”

#Like he did at Purdue where he had some outstanding Bahamian talent, Greene believes that they have the next real deal in Bahamian sprints in Divine Parker, who is in her freshman year after competing for St Anne’s School.

#“That’s our next sprint queen,” Greene quipped without hesitation. “I don’t care what nobody says, I don’t care who you see holding the trophy, that’s the Bahamas’ next sprint queen, in my opinion. She works directly with coach Hall, but he’s excellent with what he does. She is buying in like there’s no tomorrow.

#“She’s going to be the next one. Shaunae Miller-Uibo is taking the Bahamas to great heights and will continue to do that, but I think Divine is the next one. We have some others out there doing some stuff, but I think Divine will be the next sprint queen in the country. I won’t be surprised if she’s not at the World Championships next year. She’s looking that good and she’s only been with us for about five weeks.”

#Although he’s living out one of his passions as a head coach, Greene believes that if he wasn’t coaching, he believes at age 51 years old, he probably would be in ministry preaching the gospel.

#“I probably would be in the pulpit somewhere. I don’t know if it would have been here or in the US, I would be in ministry,” he said. “But the way I look at ministry, I believe I’m doing it now because I remember when one of my athlete’s father was dying from cancer, I was able to pray with him and make him to understand that his father was healed because he went to a better place.

#“To have a kid walk into my office and ask me to pray for their mother, I believe I am in ministry. I don’t have to stand in the pulpit, but I know I can preach the word if I have to. So if I wasn’t coaching, I would be in people’s business preaching the word of God. I just want to be someone who wants to make an impact.”

#Motivated by a message on purpose he heard from the late Dr Myles Munroe while he was in college, Greene said he asked God to show him his purpose and it wasn’t medicine or law, two fields he was eager to pursue at the time. He said it was making an impact as a coach and that is what he is doing now.

#“I always wanted to retire at age 65, so I think I have about 13 years left to fulfil that,” he stated. “Five years from now, I hope to still be coaching, 10 years from now, I want to continue. 15 years, me and my wife will probably be trying to figure out what we will be doing with our grandchildren.”

#But, in the meantime as a Bahamian, Greene said if the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations calls him today to coach the national team, he will jump to the opportunity in a heartbeat.

#“I would be here tomorrow if they say ‘Lonnie would you be one of our coaches'”, he insisted. “Barring any emergency that would affect my wife or my children or one of my athletes, I would be there every day of the week and twice on Sunday. It will be an honour. Anytime you get to serve your country in any which way, it is an honour. I don’t care how simple or advanced, it is an honour.”

Nashad Mackey

Monday, March 4, 2019

#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#NASHAD Mackey concluded his collegiate basketball career with the Embry-Riddle Eagles as one of the programme’s all-time leaders.

#The Eagles’ season ended with an 82-74 loss on the road to Eckerd College and they finished the season at 13-18, 6-14 in the Sunshine State Conference.

#Mackey finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the finale.

#In the penultimate game of the season, Mackey played his last home game on the Embry Riddle campus on senior night and posted 27 points with 16 rebounds in a 90-81 win over Palm Beach Atlantic.

#In Mackey’s two-year run with the Eagles, he registered 39 double-doubles in 50 career games in an Eagles uniform, averaging 17.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.

#Mackey’s 17.2 points per game ranks third all-time in Eagles history, while his 12.2 boards per outing is easily the top mark in 31 seasons of ERAU basketball.

#As a junior, Mackey produced a number of career milestones and postseason awards. He was named to the All-Conference second team as well as the All-Newcomer team when the Sunshine State Conference office announced the 2017-18 men’s basketball postseason awards. Mackey made school history when he became the first Eagles player to earn an All-Conference selection. He had an immediate impact on the programme as they transitioned to NCAA Division II with his record-breaking junior season.

#He averaged 17.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, both team leads. In 28 starts, he also set a new single-season double-doubles record with 23 on the year and ended the season with 13 such consecutive games. He posted a total of 350 rebounds, another school record, ranked second in NCAA Division II.

#He finished with nine 20-point games, including one 20-point, 20-rebound game in an upset of No. 10 Barry University. He also shot 88.8 per cent from the free throw line this season, ranked sixth among single-season totals in programme history.

#Mackey transferred to the Eagles and NCAA Division II level after he posted stellar individual numbers and garnered postseason awards at the JuCo level.

#During his stint with the Daytona State College Falcons, he was named the Mid-Florida Conference Player of the Year and was also named First team All-State in the conference as a sophomore.

#“I try to live in the moment and enjoy every minute of life, so I don’t necessarily have any plans but a few ideas. Some of my ideas beyond basketball this season is to work on my nutrition and working on my game, giving myself the best opportunity to play at the next level,” he said. “Career-wise I am thinking of playing professionally or attending graduate school and pursuing a corporate career.”

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Nashad Mackey

#By RENALDO DORSETT

#Tribune Sports Reporter

#rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

#IN his first season of NCAA Division II basketball, Bahamian college basketball star Nashad Mackey produced a number of career milestones and postseason awards.

#The Embry-Riddle Eagles junior forward was named to the All-Conference second team as well as the All-Newcomer team when the Sunshine State Conference office announced the 2017-18 men’s basketball postseason awards.

#Mackey made school history when he became the first Eagles player to earn an All-Conference selection.

#Mackey had an immediate impact on the programme as they transitioned to NCAA Division II with his record-breaking junior season.

#He averaged 17.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, both team leads. In 28 starts, he also set a new single-season double-doubles record with 23 on the year and ended the season with 13 such consecutive games. He posted a total of 350 rebounds, another school record, ranked second in NCAA Division II.

#He finished with nine 20-point games, including one 20-point, 20-rebound game in an upset of No. 10 Barry University. He also shot 88.8 per cent from the free throw line this season, ranked sixth among single-season totals in programme history.

#The Eagles closed out the 2017-18 season last week with a 104-97 loss to Florida Southern to end the season at 11-17, 5-15 in the conference.

#Mackey ended the campaign strong with his final double-double of the season with 26 points and 14 rebounds. He transferred to the Eagles and NCAA Division II level after he posted stellar individual numbers and garnered postseason awards at the JuCo level.

#During his stint with the Daytona State College Falcons, he was named the Mid-Florida Conference Player of the Year and was also named First team All-State in the conference as a sophomore.

#Mackey played in over 850 minutes for the Falcons in his sophomore season, leading his team in time on the court. For the Falcons he averaged 15.1 points per game on the season, and 18.8 points in conference play. Mackey also averaged three times as many boards as his next teammate statistically, averaging 14.4 rebounds per game in conference contests.

#He said the educational opportunities at Embry-Riddle were at the forefront of his decision process. “I always valued my education. Being an engineering major, Embry-Riddle is one of the best programmes nationwide. The university and campus is growing rapidly.

#“Also Embry-Riddle is a winning programme under the leadership of Steve Ridder, who is father of the head coach at Daytona State.

#“I also developed a great relationship with the entire coaching staff through this recruiting process and I believe they had my best interest at heart,” he said.

#In his freshman season with the Falcons, he averaged 9.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game while shooting 47 per cent from the field and 26 per cent from three-point range. He led the team in double doubles with several standout performances, including 28 points and 11 rebounds in a 105-78 win over South Georgia Technical College and 18 points and 15 rebounds in a 77-74 loss to Florida