Although the presidency of the Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) will remain the same, there were some new faces elected to the federation's administrative board this past weekend.
The membership body voted the newly elected officers in on Saturday during the BSF's Annual General Meeting (AGM) and election of officers.
Incumbent president Algernon Cargill ran unopposed, and will lead the executive team inclusive of John Bradley as the first vice president, William Russell as the second vice president and Steve Thompson as the third vice president, for the next four years. Olympian Nicholas Reese will serve as treasurer, with Erald Thompson as assistant treasurer; and Alexis Wells and Rochelle Bastian will serve as secretary and assistant secretary respectively.
"I am excited that we have a slate of officers who are all industry professionals, who will collectively contribute to the success of the federation moving forward," said Cargill about the new slate of officers. "In this election, I thought that all of the candidates running were excellent, and were more than capable of doing the jobs they sought after. Of course I was disappointed that some people who I know well weren't successful, but in situations like this, you have to just accept the results and move forward. Although the learning curve may be steep early on, I am confident that their (elected members) business and professional acumens, along with their love for the sport and with the guidance of seasoned executives, we will keep our federation running smoothly."
The BSF has a lot on its plate this year in terms of hosting events, as both the CARIFTA Swimming and Water Polo Championships, along with the swimming portion of the Commonwealth Youth Games, will be staged in New Providence at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Aquatics Center. The water polo championships will be held April 7-9, and the swimming championships are set for April 15-18. The Commonwealth Youth Games will be held from July 19-23.
"I am excited to begin planning for the future with this executive team, but for right now our immediate plans are to prepare the team for the upcoming CARIFTA championships and Commonwealth Youth Games," Cargill said. "We just barely missed winning CARIFTA last year in Martinique, but this year, we have a team that's capable of returning to the top."
Along with returning as BSF President, Cargill will also begin a four-year stint on the FINA (International Swimming Federation) Bureau this year as well. His term will begin during the 17th FINA World Aquatics Championships, which will be held in Budapest, Hungary, from July 14-30. The bureau is made up of 22 members from around the world.
"I'm excited about this opportunity and will certainly use it to promote aquatic sports in our region, and of course, highlight the excellent achievements we are making here in The Bahamas," said Cargill. "During my time in both positions, I want to change the false perception that swimming is an elitist sport. Our athletes are always unjustly stereotyped, and I feel that it is wrong on many levels, and because of this, I feel we don't receive the support we deserve from Corporate Bahamas. The federation is truly grateful for some of the long term sponsors we do have like the Royal Bank of Canada, BTC, Subway Bahamas, CIBC FirstCaribbean International, Morley Realty, Sun Oil (Shell), and Cable Bahamas, who help our federation to continue to strengthen and grow."
Cargill was elected to represent the region on the executive body of the Union Americana de Natacion (UANA), translated to Swimming Union of the Americas, at the 2015 Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Congress that was held in Bridgetown, Barbados.

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