Sierra Leone Sports: SLSDWPA elections set for tomorrow

Sports

Sierra Leone Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Association (SLSDWPA) will go to the polls on Saturday 21 October 2017, at the Siaka Stevens Stadium Presidential Lounge to elect/re-elect the new executive that will administer the affairs the aquatic sports in the country for the next four years. Sixteen delegates from different clubs and regions across the country will be casting their vote in the election process to determine the fate of the Association. Incumbent President, George Spilsbury-Williams has made known his intention of retaining his position to complete his unfinished job in terms of developmental aspect and nationwide promotion of the sport. Spilsbury-Williams believes he had a successful tenure in office despite the challenges he faced in the past years. “We have been able to accomplish a lot of things. We’ve made a lot of connections and we’ve trained a lot of coaches to benefit the sport both locally and internationally”. “Many of the coaches are physical health education teachers from primary and secondary schools. Their inclusion has been very helpful as most of our swimmers came from schools.” the President asserted. The swimming boss said under his leadership, Sierra Leone swimmers competed in both the 2015 Kazan and 2017 Budapest FINA World championships including the Rio Olympics Games in 2016 and the 2015 All Africa Games hosted in Brazzaville. The most successful was the 2016 Africa Zone two Championships in Senegal, where they clinched 12 medals in total. And they are currently preparing for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, while a team of junior swimmers will be also representing the country in the Zone two youth Championship slated in Nigeria. Spilsbury-Williams admitted that his executive needed more time to develop swimming nationwide. Our next goal is to ensure we have committed clubs that will be in the position to groom young swimmers. SLSDWPA Scribe, Mohamed A. Turay, who is seeking another term, confirmed that Article 15.2.a of their Constitution states that Election or Appointment for Executive Committee Board Members (Exco). By our Constitution aspiring candidates can be nominated on the Election Day,” he said. The Swimming Secretary General confirmed that the contest for the various positions is likely in favour of the old guards because of their campaign for continuity based on what they’ve done to develop the sport in the last four years. “In our first term, we worked towards scouting and developing young talents, and we achieved our goal of getting up to 50 swimmers. After the election on Saturday we are planning to improve their skills with high performance training to raise the level of their performance in both local and international events.” The positions are: President, Vice President, Secretary General, Assistant Secretary General, Treasurer, Public Relation Officer, Women’s Representative and five Ex-officio members. One of the delegates, Victor Carew, warned that change is good. But they should be mindful of making positive decisions in the congress because the old executive has worked hard to develop the sport. “We must ensure we protect the image of the association for the sake of the athletes. Our decision in this congress will go a long way,” said Carew. By Magdalene S Konneh Friday October 20, 2017.

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