BVI Volleyball Association elects

Sabinah Mason as new head  

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Last Wednesday, January 19, Sabinah Mason was elected president of the BVI Amateur Volleyball Association, during elections at the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, as six new members became a part of the body. Former president Roy Barry will be the association’s vice president.

Mason and Barry are joined on the executive by: Melissa Amey, secretary; Lynelle Gumbs, assistant secretary; Kwele Williams, treasurer; Oren Hodge, assistant treasurer; Cleave Farrington, public relations officer. Player’s representatives, Drexel Glasgow and Dwayne Rubaine,.

“My support was with Roy Barry 100% and I was quite content with being his right hand as his vice president,” Mason said. “So it did take me by surprise,” she added, pointing out that she wasn’t looking for the top post.

Following the elections, Barry said Mason was one member who gave him full support and now that the roles are reversed, he will give her his full support to make BVI volleyball a success. “Barry and I had had a very good working relationship in the last two years,” Mason noted. “I have ultimate respect for him as a person and in his stead as president of the association.”

BVI Olympic Committee president Rey O’Neal, who chaired the meeting then congratulated the new body, said volleyball has a lot to be proud of. “In the minds of the public, you are a minor sport, but, you have had major success,” O’Neal said of the sport that landed the OECS Women’s Volleyball Championship in 2003.

In accordance with the new International Volleyball Federation guidelines, a motion was submitted and unanimously passed to amend the constitution allowing members to serve four years. Previously members served 2-year terms. Continuity, Mason said is the rationale behind the governing body’s decision.

“The feeling is that 2-years is not enough to accomplish most of the goals that are set out, especially if your goals are medium to long term,” she noted. “Two years is not enough time in which an executive can actually put plans in place and see them through to fruition. If you have that constant change in executive every two years, there’s the possibility that plans that were initiated at the beginning of one executives’ term, may not be actually carried through when the next executive comes into place.”

Mason said a youth program initiated by the last executive to have volleyball in the schools and the establishment of a schools league, will continue. The long term aim is to feed off the students coming out of school and becoming a part of the association’s power league. The new Volleyball Association head would also like to see volleyball become a more respected sport in the BVI. “One of the reasons it’s not as popular, is that it is not being taught in the schools consistently,” Mason observed. “Once children are exposed to the sport—or any sport in particular—they tend to gravitate towards one or another. But, they have to be introduced to it otherwise, they will never get to know it and they will never play it.”