One of the largest youth sporting organizations in the United States is bringing its business to The Bahamas.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which encompasses more than 35 sporting programs and over 30,000 age division events in the U.S., has taken a direct interest in the talent available in the country, and as a direct result, it sent representatives here to establish a working relationship with the Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF) and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.

After meeting with the minister earlier this week, the organization's Director of Sports James Parker is optimistic that they will be able reap the rewards of talented Bahamian athletes in the not too distant future.

"Over the years, we have a had a lot of Bahamian teams come over to participate in our program, so we thought that we would come over here and establish some programs here and assist with the athletes here getting more exposure," he said. "There is a lot of talent here and we just want to help the coaches out so that the athletes here can have the same opportunities as athletes in the United States."

Parker and his team of AAU officials got the blessing from the ministry to set up a competition district here in The Bahamas, and they intend to act quickly, starting with girls place to get some things started," he said. "We want to help the athletes over here become more elite. Getting more competition against kids in the United States is a major focus of ours and it will only help the athletes to develop further," he added.

BBF President Lawrence Hepburn embraced the undertaking, stating that it will definitely allow Bahamians the opportunities to be showcased at higher levels of competition, and will also be beneficial to the sports tourism aspect of the country.

"We really appreciate their consideration of The Bahamas as one of their new districts," said Hepburn. "Many of our coaches had already begun and boys basketball and then hopefully venturing into baseball and eventually track and field.

"Within the next year, we hope to put some things in place, taking teams to the United States to participate in their programs there so this is just an added venture which is truly welcomed. We also want to invite their coaches down to host some clinics here. We are reaching out to them to bring those kind of initiatives to The Bahamas, so at the end of the day, it's more than just us going to their events,"

he added.

Based out of Orlando, Florida, Parker will be working closely with The Bahamas project. The AAU Sports Director works with Disney Sport Attractions to host over 30 AAU National Championships in various sporting disciplines at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex annually.

"With our athletes, having already qualified from this district, it gives them a pass into further rounds of their tournaments, so we are just asking for our coaches to embrace this venture," said Hepburn. "This is not just the Bahamas Basketball Federation, this is the AAU reaching outside of the United States, and we are grateful for their consideration," he added.

Source: Sheldon Longley, Nassau Guardian