As of Wednesday, July 26, 2023
#By BRENT STUBBS
#Senior sports Reporter
#bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
#AFTER a successful initial term in office, Mike Sands has been returned as president of the North American, Central American and Caribbean for his second four-year term.
#The election was held over the weekend during the Under-18 and Under-23 Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica.
#Sands, the former president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, said he wasn’t surprised that he was re-elected unopposed, considering what has transpired since he assumed the chair and relocated the office to the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.
#“I’m very humble by the expression of confidence by the members to re-elect me unopposed,” Sands said.
#“It suggests to me that the membership has been very satisfied with what me and the executives have done. I could not have done it alone. I could not do it without their support, so I’m very humbled in the vote of confidence.”
#During his first tenure, Sands and his executives amended their constitution to keep it in line with World Athletics, the governing body for the sport.
#As a result, there will be two vice presidents instead of one and they have made it mandatory that one has to be a woman.
#Cydonie Mothersill, one of the top former sprinters from the Cayman Islands who is now general secretary of the Cayman Islands Athletic Associations, was elected as the female vice president and will serve along with Garth Gaylr, the president of the Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association . The immediate past vice president was Catherine Jordan of Barbados, who chose not to seek re-election.
#The other new addition to the returning board is Trevor Wells from Barbados as treasurer. The previous treasurer did not seek re-election. There are two females and two males elected to serve as council members, as stipulated in the ratified constitution.
#“We have a mixture of veterans and young people, who make up the executive board,” Sands pointed out. “This bodes well for the future for NACAC.”
#The new executive board will not officially take office until the completion of the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary from August 27-26 as the previous executive board will be allowed to participate in the Congress of World Athletics during the championships.
#“We have already started talking and while I may have a strategic plan for the way forward, I will share it with them,” Sands said. “We will ask for the impute of all the elected members because they were elected on the basis of their canvassing membership for their votes.
#“So there’s no longer an individual goal objective. We have to now put together a strategic plan, based on the newly elected members and what their vision for NACAC so that there is an all-inclusive plan going forth for the next four years.”
#Sands, however, said it is the intend to solidify the New Life Invitational as a staple event in the Bahamas and Grand Bahama in particular, as it becomes a part of circuit of events for the NACAC region, similar to what is being done on the European circuit that will help to continue to bring the sport in the region.