As promised Islandstats.com, we will be posting a 2014 Year In Review.
Because we have covered most Local Sports there is much to report, so unlike others that can fit a Year of Sports in one or two pages we will be posting a couple of sports per day beginning today to make sure you have the opportunity to review each sport.
Today we begin with SanShou-Wushu and Softball.
SAN SHOU - WUSHU
2014 was another outstanding year for Bermuda Sanshou Association. They started the year off with a bang at the Teacher’s Rugby Fight Night in April. All of their athletes performed extremely well and showed the benefits of their training camp that began in January. Kaelin Cox, Adam Chevis and Jason Lowe were all successful in securing boxing victories while Shannon Ford suffered an unfortunate KO to current Light-Heavyweight National Champion Corey Boyce in the last 20 seconds of a tightly contested, exciting bout. Khalid Pitcher and card headliner Jermal Woolridge secured victories over their Canadian opponents during the kickboxing segment while Talia Iris lost a very close split decision.
Internationally, the Bermuda Wushu Team clinched a record 9 Medals this year, 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze. At the 10th Pan American Wushu Championships in San Jose, Costa Rica, in September, Reyel Bowen, Jermal Woolridge and Sentwali Woolridge clinched Gold, Talia Iris the Silver and Khalid Pitcher the Bronze. Samir Furqan made a strong showing in his Senior debut while placing 5th, losing to the eventual winner from Peru in the elimination rounds. Garon Wilkinson had solid performances in Taolu (forms) competing in Gunshu (staff) with a 13th place finish and Daoshu (broadsword) placing 11th. Oscar Lightbourne also took part as a Sanda judge at the event. Both Jermal Woolridge and Sentwali Woolridge secured spots at the 7th Sanda World Cup that took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, in November, with Jermal winning the Bronze and Sentwali winning the Silver. The year was capped off at the 1st Pan American Sanda Cup in Monterrey, Mexico, in December, with both Reyel Bowen and Sentwali Woolridge winning Gold with victories over Mexico in the Final.
The biggest low for the organization over the last year however, was the loss of dear friend and coach, Devrae Noel-Simmons, who suffered an untimely death in January. He played such a huge role in the development of their program of which they are now beginning to reap the rewards.
SOFTBALL
The high points of the season was that officials were able to introduced a new league in the Summer Softball League dedicated to Corporate Teams (Corporate League), in hopes to revive the interest in that sector and promote healthy competition among industry competitors.
The Aim was also to raise the level of interest in the sport overall to the level of yesteryear. Unfortunately, the arrival of Hurricane Fay and Hurricane Gonzolo in October shortened the season, which usually ends in late November or early December, but with the destruction of lights and some other minor damage to the softball diamond, they were unable to hold playoffs and officials are still left unsure if they will be able to start the new season in February due to delays in fixing the issues at the Michael Preece Softball Diamond.
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