Stanley steps aside

The sport of Table Tennis is off to a bad start for 2008, as the remaining members of the Executive have to look for a new president, to replace Sean Stanley, who resigned the post, effective January 1.

In a letter addressed to Secretary of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association, Paul Velox, Stanley outlined his decision to quit the top spot.{{more}}

“The time has come for me to take a break so I can re-organise my personal life, because there is life after sports’,

Stanley said in his letter he has “no regrets” in the time spent in giving back to the sport.

“Since I have become involved in administration of Table Tennis I have seen the rise and fall of the wonderful sport,” Stanley, a certified coach observed.

Addressing those that remain to carry on the mantle, he wrote, “I believe that the sport Table Tennis is in the hands of contemporary minded individuals such as the present executive. I am sure that they can take the sport to a level that we in St. Vincent and the Grenadines have never seen before”.

For some it would be good riddance, as Stanley was always at variance with some members of the Table Tennis fraternity.

Stanley was reelected May 26 last year, when he had to stave off a strong challenge from Camille Crichton, which he won 12-10. He previously served as Interim Chairman of the Association, after the Mark Charles led executive crumbled in 2004. Stanley was elected President in 2006.

The road always seemed rocky for him, as many who opposed him in his previous terms also gained positions on the executive.

Whilst there were no overt pronouncements of discord, reports were that things were not all steady in the executive’s ship, in light of the ‘hang overs’.

Prior to last year’s election, current Committee Member Julian Sutherland, then Honourary Secretary, and Stanley were embroiled in several verbal battles, which often were fought in public, via the air waves and in the print media. Both stated, unreservedly, their inability to work with each other.

This attracted the intervention of the National Olympic Committee to mediate, but to no avail.

With Stanley vacating the post, the rest of the Executive sees Alonzo Primus as Vice President, the post of Assistant Secretary Treasurer is held by Elliot Charles, with Leslie Millington, the Association’s Treasurer. E. Glenford Prescott is the Public Relations Officer and Khalique Bailey, the other Committee Member.

Stanley, only last month, served as a resource person, when the National Olympic Committee held its inaugural Sports Academy.(RT)