Darling says athletes should be treated with more respect
Date: 13-10-2010
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamBahamas |
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Baldwin Darling, a former bodybuilder and former president of the Bodybuilding association says that although there have been some financial relief for at least three of the athletes on this year's national CAC team, he feels that more needs to be done to ensure that all of the athletes who qualified make it to the championships.
Since the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Bodybuilding Championship team was initially chosen, that team has been cut down due to "financial constraints," according to president of the Bahamas Bodybuilding Federation, Danny Sumner.
Some seven members have been cut from the team, as the Federation grapples with the lack of sponsorship and funding.
However, Darling is of the opinion that funding should not be a problem for the Federation.
"They (Federation) had a successful National show this year, along with one or two other successful shows," noted Darling, "and the local Association had an outstanding, successful show as well. So, together, they should be able to come up with the funding necessary to pay for these athletes to attend the CAC in Aruba."
Darling said that he's disappointed in the fact that by cutting the team, it puts The Bahamas in a position of lessening its chances of a good showing at the championship.
Darling said when you start cutting athletes from a team, for which they have already qualified, there is the risk of cutting some athletes who could medal and help out The Bahamas in a position to take a first or second place.
"It does not make sense to me to carry only 10 athletes, when you have 17 who qualified to compete," added the former GBBF president.
"You must remember, these athletes have trained for a life-time for this kind of opportunity and to deny them that right to compete on the international stage, is an injustice.
"Who decides who goes and who does not go, especially when all of the athletes have already qualified?"
Darling noted that while the Federation has decided to cut athletes from the team because of finances, he said that there will be people on the trip who are not athletes, but who will be on the trip.
This, he said is a slap in the face of athletes who sacrifice and train to get a chance to compete.
Darling said that to place athletes on a high by letting them know they made a national team and then to deflate them like that by cutting the team, it brings athletes down to an extreme low.
"As the president or an executive within the Federation, you have to know what the cash flow is like even before you pick a team, so you should have made adjustments then, not wait until you pick the team and then two weeks before the show, make a decision to cut the team," said Darling.
"All that can do is discourage athletes and it puts a strain on having athletes qualify for national teams in the future."
Darling believes that something has to be done to ensure that all of the athletes who qualify get a chance to compete.
He says the federation and the association must be more responsible when it comes to raising funds and collecting sponsorship for athletes travelling abroad to represent the country.
"If there is an obvious finance problem, I just hope that all of the rooms are paid for, so that once they get to Aruba, the athletes are not left standing around in the lobby wondering if they will get a room to sleep in," said Darling.
"We have to treat athletes better than we do, because once they travel abroad, they are representing the country and not just themselves."
Darling appealed to the Ministry of Tourism to step in and assist, because having athletes travel abroad to compete is sports tourism at its best.
