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The Barbados Boxing Association (BBA) is hoping to punch above its weight by continuing to improve the association’s image, says outgoing president Richard Atwell.

A martial artist and entrepreneur, Atwell has served the BBA for over ten years in various capacities and was president for a total of four years having served two terms. It is expected that the BBA’s annual general meeting will be held Sunday, April 25th.

During an interview with Barbados TODAY, Atwell said that during his tenure as president his main goal was to alleviate some of the main problems of the BBA and strengthen the weaker areas as it relates to how the association functions.

He also explained that for boxing in Barbados to truly develop, there was a need for change as far as how the sport is perceived generally in the island.

“The whole restructuring of sports in Barbados needs to happen and the changing of mindset when it comes to sport. And we are going to outline that in our strategic plan in terms of I think we are too heavily dependent on volunteers to push our athletes to the pinnacle.

“I think that is why our country has only achieved one Olympic medal. I think it is about time we make a dent in the unemployment numbers by employing people in sports,” Atwell said.

He added: “Sports is a big industry and generates more than six billion dollars annually. That is not just professional sport, that is an amateur sport and all the other ancillary services that support sports. But we are still looking at the sport as just recreational.”

According to Atwell, there is a national sports policy pending and while unable to say much on it, he did hint at the fact that as part of the document there needs to be a sports industry which is the direction he believes Barbados should go.

“When you look at it. There isn’t even a semi-professional league in Barbados for sports. The cricketers have to go outside of Barbados to earn a living and the footballers as well. All we have to do is start small and grow.

“In terms of boxing we are moving slowly towards that but we need to have staff. This becomes a job. We spend long hours doing boxing stuff. It becomes a job. Don’t mind we are called volunteers but it is still work,” Atwell explained.

Atwell said that some of the areas the BBA has improved and continues to work on is the swiftness in decision-making as it relates to the general management of the sport. Also increasing the number of local competitions and introducing new competitions.

Atwell noted that the four-year plan implemented by the BBA has also been of great benefit particularly to the elite boxers in the island.

However, there are a few regrets Atwell has that he was unable to fulfil as president. He had hoped to get the boxing gyms more functional. The gyms, according to Atwell, need to be seen as a training ground for athletes and therefore they need to be properly managed.

“One of the other things we want to do in terms of generating revenue for the association is to have a corporate boxing program. So, if the gyms are not functional that is not going to work. We need to have a schedule that we can stick to, customer service which we don’t currently have but we are working on those things.

“The other thing we plan to do is draft a strategic plan which will be finalised this month. Once that is finished it will set the pathway for our athletes,” the BBA outgoing boss said.

As president Atwell used and shared his knowledge as an entrepreneur to serve the BBA. He utilised a business approach to managing the BBA because in his view that was the only way to make it more efficient.

When it comes to talent, Atwell said Barbados has what it takes to medal at the Olympics. The likes of Charles Cox, Jabali Breedy and Kimberly Gittens have done Barbados proud and are all hoping to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan later this year.

“I think we have a possibility of achieving a medal. I can pinpoint a few individuals who I think can medal. Jabali and Kimberley because of the number of bouts and the exposure they have had.

“They have the potential once the mindset is right and that is why we have a sports psychologist working with them. Also, it comes down to if they have a good draw because luck is always involved in whether you win certain things. But they have the potential to do it,” Atwell explained.

The BBA numbers are growing but Atwell acknowledged that they need to boost their membership some more. Atwell explained that the athletes’ numbers are usually around 45, spread over ten weight categories for males and females.

“It is not enough to have local competitions. So, one of the challenges we had over the years was matching boxers because the weight categories were usually spread out. If we double that amount or even triple it from 45 to 120, we should be able to fill in a lot of those gaps in terms of the weight categories that we are missing. Then we will have more local competitions and a broader talent pool,” he said.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb