Haslam elected to head SVGTTA executive

Orville Haslam, who described the last four years of administration of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association (SVGTTA) as “chaotic”, has been installed as the organization’s new president.

The Jamaica–born Haslam, who is a former Caribbean Table Tennis singles champion, was last Wednesday evening elected unopposed to head the SVGTTA, at a general meeting held at the West St George Secondary School.

Haslam, who served as technical advisor on the last executive, led by Tyrone Jack, did not paint a good picture of the operations.

“In my more than 40 something years in sports administration, it has been the most chaotic situation,” Haslam recounted.

The divide in the outgoing executive was evident, as Jack, in his report, attempted to chastise former public relations officer Sean Stanley.

But Jack’s presentation was short-lived, as he was quickly chided by president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee Trevor Bailey, who stepped in as chair of the meeting.

However, Haslam has a road map of how to fix some of the teething problems which affected the SVGTTA for the past four years.

Speaking to SEARCHLIGHT soon after being given the unanimous vote of approval, Haslam projected: “We are going to run the association with a democratic approach… Once a decision is made at a meeting, as president, I can’t go and change it, because I don’t like what I heard”.

Haslam said that part of his vision is to have inclusion, by appointing a players’ representative on the executive, “to have a voice”.

He said that as president, he would soon be meeting with the executive “to have an informal chat to get to know each other”.

The new president noted that the image of the association has been damaged over the years, but endeavours to use his skills to reverse that.

But Haslam may have another assignment before, as Nixon Louis, who was elected unopposed as assistant secretary, then indicated at the conclusion of the election that he wanted to demit his position, citing “private” reasons.

His pronouncement came soon after the declaration of the two committee members – Sean Stanley and Montgomery “Nick” Howard.

At last Wednesday’s meeting, it was evident that Louis and Stanley had differences.

Louis, during last Wednesday’s elections, had contested two other positions and lost.

In the race for the vice-president, Dennis Gaymes beat Louis 22-9, while Asquith Ballah defeated him 16-15, as the two vied for the post of secretary.

Meanwhile, Terrance Marksman gained 18 votes to Marlon Gibson’s 14, to be the association’s new treasurer.

Gibson held the post on the last executive until August of this year, when he tendered his resignation.