Bermuda Football Association President, Richard Calderon presented his first ever end of season awards presentation during the 9th Annual BFA Awards Ceremony at the National Sports Centre Pavilion. Prior to handing out the awards, President Calderon delivered a speech on the Strategic Plan that was rolled out in January of this year and the business plan for the Association. Please see below a copy of his transcript he presented to the audience.
Minister Blakeney, Honoured guest, players, coaches, referees, members of the press ladies and gentlemen.
As the President of the Bermuda Football Association it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to this awards ceremony. Tonight we honour those that have done themselves, their teams and their sport proud.
Each one of these nominees should be applauded for their tremendous accomplishments as their individual efforts have not only inspired their teammates but they have also provided fans with reasons to cheer. I look forward to presenting these awards and to congratulating each of the recipients.
While we applaud all that these individuals did to earn these awards, I think all would agree that we must also acknowledge that their achievements would not have been possible, without their teams support.
I think that no one has captured the essence of the importance of teamwork better then that great individualist and team player, Michael Jordan, when he stated the following:
“There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is that in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing that I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships”.
Tonight I would like to also acknowledge those other members of Football Community who have, and continue to contribute greatly to improving our product, but are not often recognized for their significant contributions made in helping all of us achieve our common goal.
Joe Babiec, is a name foreign to the vast majority of you sitting here tonight but to those of us that have worked closely with Joe for the past several months, I’m confident that they will agree, that it was his expertise and guidance that has allowed us to deliver a comprehensive and first rate strategic plan for Bermuda Football. The fact that his hundreds of hours contributed to this cause were provided at no cost makes his contribution all the more noteworthy.
We offer thanks to the many club executives and coaches who along with former National Team coaches, executives, administrators, referees and other stakeholders helped to shape the thinking found throughout our strategic plan.
I am personally appreciative of the BFA staff, who from day one embraced a new direction for football and who have all made and continue to make significant contributions to moving our business plan forward. The work that they are doing working side by side with our Executive and Committee members, will I’m sure reap dividends for all in football, for many years to come.
It is very important that we recognize the commitment that the Government of Bermuda has given to our National Sporting bodies. Through their foresight, we in football have benefited in that we have been provided with the requisite funding that has fueled our strategic plan, and allowed us to deliver a comprehensive business plan for reversing the decline in Bermuda Football.
We take this show of support as evidence that we are on the right track, and it is now all of our jobs to collectively do our part to provide compelling reasons for why investing in Football is seen as tax payers’ money well spent.
We have all felt the impact of the downturn in the global and local economy. Instead of using this as an excuse to reduce our goals, all of us, administrators, staff and executive have been energized by the challenge of doing more with less so that we can keep our plans on track.
The show of continued support received from existing sponsors coupled with the vote of confidence given by new sponsors is additional evidence that our strategic plan and business plan has resonated beyond the halls of the BFA. And I m happy to stand in front of you tonight and say that through the combined financial, in-kind and volunteer support that we have received, we will deliver on our promise.
These are exciting times for Bermuda Football and I know that I speak for all of the BFA Executive and Staff, in thanking everyone that has played a part, no matter how small, in helping football win.
So again, to those of you here tonight about to be honoured for your achievements this season and your significant place in Bermuda Football, our warmest congratulations. To your teammates, your clubs, and to all of those that make up the full squad behind Bermuda Football, my thanks for all that you did in the past year to create an environment in which individuals could give us the performances that we honour tonight. And to everyone in Bermuda Football, I hope that thanks to your hard work on the many initiatives now underway to strengthen the competiveness of Bermuda Football, we can look forward to rewarding future performances that equal, or even best, the high standards set by tonight’s awards recipients.
Thank-you
