Mr. Mark St. Hill has been duly installed as the new President of the Barbados Hockey Federation Inc. at its Annual General Meeting last night, at the Sir Garfield Sobers Sports Gymnasium. Mr. St. Hill, a former Barbados national and Combermere School Old Scholar's goalkeeper, made a successful bid for the post of President, succeeding former President David E. Rouse.
In his first address to the membership, Mr. St. Hill stated that while he has entered relatively blindly into the office, he has done so out of his love for the sport and to return the dues he owes to Barbados Hockey. He went on to state that there are a number of items that the (Hockey) Federation has to get right, inclusive of solid governance and transparency.
With a professional background in banking as the current Managing Director of Retail, Business and International Banking at FirstCaribbean International Bank, he stressed that given the contracted economy and the prohibitive financial position (of the Hockey Federation), there will be some very hard decisions to make, where a clear road-map for the sport will need to be charted.
The new President outlined his top-three targets for Barbados Hockey as first, positioning the sport back to its former popularity and position as a top local sport, acknowledging Cricket and Football as the dominant local sports, by decentralizing and promoting a recognizable Hockey brand. Next, establishing revenue sustainability and making the Barbados International Hockey Festival a top priority, and lastly, maintaining and improving Barbados' international ranking in the English-speaking Caribbean.
He assured the members present that all of their comments regarding Barbados Hockey were extremely important and emphasized the ultimate goal of growing the youth and junior progammes and promoting development, all while bringing Barbados Hockey "back to basics".
Other elected Directors include new comer Dr. Kristina Hinds-Harrison in the post of Female Vice-President, Mr. George Bennett, a past president himself, returning as Assistant Secretary, immediate past president Mr David Rouse will now serve as Male Vice-President and Ms. Leslie Austin, Mr. Jason Robinson, Mr. Bradley Harris and Mr. Justin Taitt all successfully returning as Directors.
The Presidential, Officer and Director terms of the Barbados Hockey Federation are normally for two years.
