MITCHELL RESIGNS
Sports
August 4, 2006

MITCHELL RESIGNS

Sabrina Mitchell, who served as General Secretary of the local Basketball Association, has resigned. Mitchell, daughter of former Prime Minister, Sir James Mitchell, has emerged as the driving force as far as basketball on the northern Grenadine Island of Bequia is concerned.

“I tried my best to effect change to develop basketball,” Mitchell said{{more}}.

She outlined having taken the sport from “nothing” to a success in Bequia.

But she is displeased with what was happening with basketball on mainland St. Vincent.

“When I got involved in basketball in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, it was to bring my experience at the national level to make it work,” she indicated.

“I tried very hard, but failed,” the former general secretary stated.

“I cannot continue to justify my involvement in something that has not had any success,” Mitchell outlined. She is not harping upon the sacrifices that she made having to commute from the Grenadines to mainland St. Vincent to attend meetings, and the expenses she has encountered.

She said it was a difficult and painful decision, because in her words: “I want to see basketball be the most successful sport.”

She added: “It needs to be channeled, to be more professional. I want to see the game develop.”

“If I can’t do my job properly, I would rather not do it,” she pointed out.

“I don’t believe in mediocrity,” she stated.

Mitchell is also highly respected on the regional and international levels. She was re-elected Secretary General of the Caribbean Confederation, and she was also on the International Federation of Basketball Association Continental Body.

“I wish the Federation all the best and hope that the Federation can regroup and find a way to move forward,” Mitchell outlined.

She lamented the situation that basketball “is not where it should be.” “Basketball is not reaching its maximum potential,” Mitchell pointed out, and she is looking forward to seeing it develop.

The regional body is expected to meet next January in Curacao when plans for the staging of the next Caribbean Championship are slated. She is also not pleased with the provision of facilities for basketball here, which she contends is “holding back the sport.”

She thinks that an “indoor basketball stadium is needed.”

“We need to have an indoor facility,” Mitchell stated and hinted on plans for such provision in Bequia. “We are looking to start simple,” she outlined. But she is of the view that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is “behind time.”