Evaluating The Role Of Sports Clubs In Bermuda
The Men of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity will be hosting their 2017 Symposium this Thursday, which will focus on “Evaluating the Role of Sports Clubs in Bermuda.”
“The purpose of our Symposium is to create a scholarly environment for dialogue on critical issues that impact our community whilst also finding solutions that will drive the island in a positive direction,” a spokesperson sad
“The theme of the Panel discussion is ‘Evaluating the Role of Sports Clubs in Bermuda’. This year’s Symposium will be held at CedarBridge, Cafetorium on March 9th, 2017 at 6:00 – 8:00pm.
The moderator will be Dwayne Caines, and the panelists for the Symposium include:
- Alfred Maybury – Somerset Cricket Club
- Kenneth “Neil” Paynter Jr. – St Georges Cricket Club
- Jason Wade – Southampton Rangers Sports Club
- Ray Jones – Devonshire Colts
- Michael Trott – Pembroke Hamilton Club
- Shervin Dill – North Village Community Club
- Nadine Henry – Devonshire Recreation Club
Alpha Phi Alpha President Dantae Williams said, “Regrettably, there have been a number of violent incidents that have happened at clubs in Bermuda.
“We’re hoping to reopen the lines of communication and put our minds together to come up with solutions to get clubs to be the most productive they can be — serving the community as they intended on serving it and being a haven for our young people.”
Some of the questions the panelists will be asked are:
- 1. What is the purpose of your club and why does it exist? Is there a clear understanding of role and ‘reason for being’ among its membership and the community?
- 2. If your club was to close today, what do you think will be the impact in your community?
- 3. Does your club provide family oriented activities and do you think that it is important to do so? If so, what are they?
- 4. Recently in the news we were inundated with stories of youth who were abused at the hands of those at sporting clubs. What is your club doing to create safe spaces for our young people? What are the minimum requirements of skills set and training required for individuals in contact with children?
- 5. Are clubs discouraging the community’s participation by allowing drug and alcohol impaired individuals to loiter around the premises? What can be done to provide security and peace of mind to patrons and visitors? Do hours of operation have to be reconsidered?
- 6. Sporting clubs are fast becoming the epicenter of violence. What do you think are some of the contributing factors and what do we need to do to make our environments “Safe Spaces” for the community, particularly the youth?
- 7. Outside sporting activities does your club have educational programs that complement the development of our young people? If not, do you think this a feasible idea?
- 8. Does your sporting club offer any financial assistance to those individuals who are financially disadvantaged?
- 9. Are sporting clubs still financially sustainable?
- 10. Are clubs good stewards of the finances and the money of its members?
- 11. Are sporting clubs working collaboratively to tackle the common set of problems among the clubs?
- 12. Does your club have a vision of where it wants to get to, or an ideal future state beyond the current timeframe? How does this vision chart the future for success while remaining true to the legacy that the sporting club was built on?
I suggested years ago that sports clubs should immediately suspend financing themselves with bars and alcohol sales and instead use their facilities to run day- care centers, after finding out that systemic child abuse had been covered up for years I am glad I was ignored.
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