The sixth Bahamas Games is in the books and the seventh edition is set for 2026. Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg said he is looking forward to that edition after seeing what transpired in the sixth edition. He said that they are looking to implement a precursor event to the Bahamas Games.
"What we want to try and see if we can implement is a regional games in The Bahamas, which would be the year before the Bahamas Games. The regional games would include the Northern Bahamas islands competing against themselves, the Central Bahamas islands compete against themselves, and the southern islands competing against themselves. What we'll be doing is like a precursor and warm up for the Bahamas Games so that in the absence of the three years, they don't feel that long of a wait, but they have something regional that they could compete in. It will also prepare them for the Bahamas Games," Bowleg said.
This year, the games featured soccer,
swimming, tennis, cycling, sloop sailing, baseball, volleyball, basketball, softball track and field, golf, opti sailing, boxing and edukarting, which was an exhibition event. Bowleg said that the federations have seen the talent that was on display in these sports from the different islands.
"What has to happen now is that each federation has to go to these various Family Islands where they do not have an association and establish an association," Bowleg said. "We are about to have a sports conclave later in the year, sometime between September and October and the idea will be to bring all the sports councils and minds together. We want to find means and ways and make it mandatory that these federations have associations in at least four or five of the major islands, and if that is happening, I can assure you the level of talent that we saw in this year's edition will even be tremendous or even 10 times higher in the next four or five years."
Coming into the just completed Bahamas Games, facilities on the islands other than New Providence and Grand Bahama were a hot button topic. Bowleg said that they will look to add facilities on the various islands.
"It comes at its own time. This government has already allocated $40 million over the next 10 years - $4 million a year to repair those facilities. Cat Island has gotten a new track, a new softball, baseball and basketball court. The next island we intend to move to is Abaco. We understand that since Dorian, their facilities are very bad but Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma are next. Grand Bahama continues to develop as time goes on. We are we are going to break ground for that Olympic sized swimming pool before the year end. Simultaneously, you'll see us moving through the various islands and getting things done but Abaco is definitely next on the list for us to get their facilities up and running," Bowleg said.
At the sixth edition of the Bahamas Games, New Providence won titles in men and women's soccer, baseball, track and field, men's volleyball, cycling and opti sailing. Grand Bahama won titles in swimming, women's softball and boxing. Long Island won all three classes in sailing. Eleuthera took home titles in men's softball and men's basketball. Andros prevailed in tennis and golf. Columbus Isles was victorious in women's volleyball and Exuma and Ragged Island won the gold medal in women's basketball.
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