(Eleuthera, Bahamas) – The Eleuthera Schools Sports Association (ESSA) celebrated the end of their first year as an organization with a first annual gala awards banquet, which was held on Saturday, June 11th, 2016, at the Worker’s House ballroom in Governor’s Harbour. The event, which was slated to begin at 6:30pm that evening was catered jointly by the Home Economics/Food and Nutrition department staff from multiple public high schools across the island. Student athletes from primary and high schools throughout Eleuthera converged at the banquet, smartly dressed, with family and friends in tow, to receive trophies and awards highlighting their sporting accomplishments during the past year. Along with individual achievement awards in various sporting disciplines, as most valuable players and best player in specific age categories, best all-around athlete awards were given to male and female students in both primary, junior and senior high schools.
The evening’s crowning awards for ‘Most Outstanding Athlete’ were presented to student athletes who also held the highest academic grade point average island wide in the primary, junior high and senior high school categories. Young Natalia Sands of Rock Sound Primary received the award as the ‘Most Outstanding Primary Athlete’; Allie Pinder of the Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School was ‘Most Outstanding Junior Athlete’; and the senior crown was shared by two very competitive athletes, both in the field and in the classroom, each with a grade point average of 3.97. These two dedicated student athletes were Kade Charlton Roberts, an 11th grader at the Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School; and Safyha Bryan, a 12th grade graduate and Valedictorian of the Central Eleuthera High School.
President of the ESSA, Principal Yorick Sands of the Harbour Island All Age School, oversaw the successful hosting of a number of inter-school tournaments during the 2015/2016 school year in multiple disciplines, including track and field, softball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, and basketball. The ESSA was also widely supported for enforcing a standard of student athletes having to maintain a 2.0 grade point average during the year, to be able to compete in local school sports. This initiative, explained President Sands, was to encourage and prepare students to have realistic goals in sports, especially those interested in aiming for athletic scholarships at the tertiary level.
To this end, the ESSA hosted several events surrounding the gala banquet weekend, including a sports showcase and college fair. Athletic directors and coaches from the College of the Bahamas, Florida Memorial University, and Edward Waters College were invited on island to scout and meet with student athletes for possible scholarship opportunities. Sean Bastian, Assistant Director of Athletics, with the College of the Bahamas; Artis Maddox, Head Basketball Coach and Assistant Athletic Director, with Florida Memorial University, and Stanley Cromartie, Female Softball Coach and Athletic Director, with Edward Waters College, met with athletes while on island, and were special guests during the gala awards banquet.
