The Dominican.net

Watch out for the wolves in sheep clothing! They have been there before and messed up. Power is all they want. Greed is at the forefront of their agenda.
 

I know that the Dominica Bodybuilding Association and the Dominica Taekwondo Association are affiliated members of the Dominica Olympic Committee. I also know that neither of those associations have been functioning for the past five or so years. The president of the Boxing Association is also president of the Bodybuilding Association; and up to last year the Treasurer of the Football Association was also Treasurer of Boxing, Taekwondo and Archery (Yes there is a Dominica Archery Association affiliated with the Olympic Committee); while the President of the Dominca Lawn Tennis Association is also Secretary of Archery and Taekwondo. Could those be the persons lobbying for positions on the Olympic Committee. God help sports in Dominica.
 

Can we please not embarrass our country again, like last year in China, when three members of the Dominica Olympic Committee visited Bejing to support two athletes, not residing in Dominica and whom we we knew were likely to be eliminated in the qualifying heats. It was obvious to the world that these athletes were merely an excuse for yet another freebie. To top it all were prevented from following the event for some time because our leading T.V. station stood accused of "pirating"! Do these folks forget that they are waving our flag for all to see? If we can not do better it is preferable to stay at home and preserve our dignity.
 

Let us hope that the in coming Dominica Olympic Committee Executive would be more informative than the out going Executive by filing reports upon their return from their overseas travels. It is understood the Management who attended the Beijin Olympics are yet to submit written reports both technical and financial on their trip to Beijin and that in the absence of these reports no post mortem can be held on that trip for us to evaluate what went wron why we did not perform. It is further understood that in the absence of these reports that the team management have requested the executive to approve an increase to the US$30.00 per day perdium that was advanced to them ispite of all travel, hotel and meal expenses being paid for on their behalf. It is also understand that some of these members took their sisters to China at the full expense of the DOC.
 

I know that the Dominica Swimming Association and the Dominica Cycling Association are affiliated members of the Dominica Olympic Committee. I also know that neither of those associations have ever held a local championship
 

Rupert Sorhaindo resigned because he could not deal with the corrupt practises of the Current Executive of the Dominica Olympic Committee but on the other hand - Does Rupert Sorhaindo have something to hide of his past action as the General Secretary

Dose Sorhaindo support the present corruption at the DOC

Sorhaind - come OUT - AND SAY WHAT YOU KNOW
 

It was observed that the present D.O.C has become a friendship and family club. If you support them, funding is given, if oppose, well then no financial assistance is given. The present executive first thought of themselves and traveling but not the athletes and officials getting the regional and international experience. It is time we save sports in Dominica by electing new executive members who have played sports and know the dedication athletes put in day in and out. D.O.C was managed poorly from since 8 years after the backing from the present President Pringle. Our athletes have suffered enough, it is time to make things right and vote the new executive under solid leadership with quality experience.The proposed executive has met and are over qualify to meet the tasks at hand. Their order of business is to bring back trust, honesty and respect back to the N.O.C.

The former Basketball treasurer Mickey Joseph forsake basketball after he was nominate to represent basketball on the D.O.C and now because he to be President he is now coming to the sport he forsake to support him again and to nominate one more time. he to dame wicked, we say no. he must account for all the funds D.O.C have given him when travelled...BYE
 

Rupert Sorhaindo must speak the truth because he did not resign for corruption. He resigned because he thought he would be the general secretary of the football association where the salary propose to him was eye catching. Rupert must speak the truth about the D.O.C who do not support some association because of personal issues. Tell him come out to speak, break the silence.
 

I am certainly not surprised at the tone of some of the comments appearing above. Mr. Sorhaindo was courageous enough to expose some of the machinations that are behind national sports politics and he did not hide behind a pseudonyn or remain anonymous. He has now come under attack by persons who hide behind anonymity. Most of the comments posted above do not address the substance of Mr. Sorhaindo's expose - ambitious persons seeking to establish national sports asociations apparently for the sake of subverting the electoral process of the Olympic Committee. Dominicans would want to know who are the individuals who are on the executive of Boxing, Bodybuilding,Archery, Taekwondo, Football, Lawn Tennis, Table Tennis, Swimming, Cycling,Basketball, Volleyball, Cricket, Netball, Athletics and other national sports associations affiliated with the Olympic Committee, and which of the associations represent actual active athletes. Stop the personal attacks and address the real issues.
 

Rupert is right. Who would want to be a target for "slur" attacks from dishonest people desparate for power. The dominica olympic committee seems like it is to be held to ransom by a clique of scammers.
 

Yes Sir, Massa Sorhaindo, you are at it again. If people (who are not part of your circle are elected to run organistion, that you have interest in it affects yr whole being. So you wrote a long suuport letter for the past CEO of Football, because you wanted to hold a high position in Football Asso. You thought that your massa letter would have worked. It did not, thank God. Time we put people with calibre and merit to head organisation like the olympic Committee. The Olympic Committee was forced to come up with new rules and regulations because of the pressure brought from within. You have been on olympic Committee for years, what has been the result, nothing. NaNa. At least The present president of Football Asso. has been able to improve on the athletes due to no support from you. As a matter of act you have stifled olympic would be contenders. So get out of the game and give another Dominican a chance. You have failed miserably. Admit it and get out.
 

I cannot believe you guys. But then again a typical Dominican usually attacks the messenger and forgets the message. Mickey Joseph is one of those persons who has "squeezed" young basketballers from the days of Windsor Park, exercised nepotism to the highest degree (puchasing EVERYTHING for DABA and DOC from Flossie's - his father or at least using that name to bring in equipment), denying the young men of Dominica from participating in a league (2005 or 2006) after receiving sposnorship of about 18G's from Josephine Gabriel and Company....need i say more? we already know the 2008 Olympic issue/s.

Thomas Dorsette has ALL of the equipment for Lawn tennis concealed somewhere at his home - the nets, the balls and yes...the automatic serving machine. All that in addition to the annual $20,000 that he receives from Nassief so as to secure his seat on the ILTA. What do the young lawn tennis players receive?

I am not even going to attempt to discuss Mr. White and the president of the Boxing association (which i must say is the most corrupt) because I am certain that this website will not permit any user to have a complete page to themselves.

Taekwondo? Archery? Body-building? hey guys, their is another sport that i think we can try to bring in "ULTIMATE FRISBIE" or field hockey, no, wait baseball, we can easily get some freebies to Dominican republic or maybe even the USA. how about kayaking, we could use the fresh water lake (or the boiling lake for some tsk, tsk). I know, i know....Thumb wrestling!!!!

Mr. Sorhaindo is a man of dignity and i know would never stand to see such corruption and be a part of it. well done mr sorhaindo. one thing left to do...expose those involved in such corruption practices. Or maybe I should do it!
 

Anyone who knows Rupert Sorhaindo knows that he is a person of utmost integrity and the comments insinuating otherwise just show the desperation of those corrupt individuals and their compatriots (and you all know who you are). And incidentally if there's one international sporting organisation giving IOC a run for its money with regards to corruption, it would be FIFA and Mr. Sorhaindo would certainly not have been the slightest bit interested in moving "from the frying pan into the fire".
 

No doubt Rupert has raised some pertinent points and the persons who have the most to lose are trying to pull him down. Typical of Dominicans. If you don't like the message, destroy the messenger....Great work Rupert......
 

It is obvious that the persons who tend to make comments re basketball against Mickey Joseph, should think of the young men and women that got basketball scholarships and the personal resources which was used to keep the sport alive, see the state of the game now
 

I have been an active athlete and was a sports adminstrator for a few years in Dominica. My Sorhaindo is one of the most respectful, fair-minded individuals I have encountered in sport adminstration. Financially, he does not take from sports, he gives to sports. Those of you who are out on the fringes merely commenting subjectively should inform yourselves. Anyone who is aware of sports in Dominica will be able to pinpoint the active organizations. When was the last lawn tennis competition in Dominica or even the last lawn tennis AGM? At the sports awards held last year the lawn tennis association could find no one to award for the year, as they had held no competitions for a few years, so an award was created for an individual who use to be active in the sports "life time award" a category not existent in the sports division's award ceremony. I had to edit the write-up so that the individual would not be embarrassed. Has there ever been a Tae-Kwondo competition in Dominica? Dominica does not have a Tae Kwondo program -how do I know? I was involved in the initial organization of this sports. I quit because it was a waste of time. We were never able to get a group of individuals together to get an executive set up for about three years and even when I left years after my first involvement there had been no training sessions, AGM, etc. A young man was sent to a course in order to get the program going, he quit and left the mats that were given for the program at the Dominica club; mind you, not before trying to sell them. There are no level one Tae Kwondo coaches on the island-so how does the sport exit? It doesn't. A group of individuals hide under the umbrella of Tae Kwon Do association and pay the related $100.00 affiliation fees to the DOC in order to vote at meetings. Tae Kwondo has never materialised on the island. Dominica is not in good standing with the International tae Kwondo federation last I checked, because we had outstanding dues to the tune of thousands of US dollars. At one time, Dr. Park who was interested in getting a Dominican at the international Tae Kwon Do congress in order to vote for him, offered to pay $2500.00 US dollars and asked the DOC to cover the balance; an equivalent sum, but they refused and rightly so,as the sport is non-existent on the island. Body building is another non-functional sport on the island. I don't undertand why big men in good conscience would lie about the legitimacy of organizations merely to get a vote. Why would we want individuals who lie about the bon fide status of organizations to lead the Olympic Committee; a committee that is suppose to promote honesty in sport? I guess the lure of travel with stipends, the profiling at games, etc. is something that they miss. Thank God for having gotten the opportunity to listen to a presentation from a representative from Olympic Solidarity and Keith Joseph from St. Vincent about the types of funding that could be sourced from Olympic Solidarity. Also, thank God for Roseanne Pringle who made it her business to bring to the attention of affiliates that the opportunity existed to source funds to run development programs (some of us did our work and got funds and some of us didn't and complained when others got funds-but the information was given to all). She did not merely verbalize it, she handed out printed material and indicated that the CD with the information was available at the DOC office. I borrowed that CD and we did our work. Gone are the days when funding from the DOC was a mystery. Finally, it was always a mystery to me why a sport like football that is supported to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars by its international federation was able to obtain funds from Olympic Solidarity while other sports that were struggling financially couldn't. Interestingly, when Mr. Sorhaindo was General secretary and submitted a request for funding for talent identification by football association, it was denied by Olympic Solidarity for the self same reason; football assocation had been funded by its international organization for development of footballers already and since Olympic Solidaritry was aware of that they would not duplicate those funds. Someone commented about DOC being a family and friend thing. DOC used to be about family and friends, it isn't anymore.
Finally, for those of you who keep commenting because Mrs. Green family member was at the Olympics, stop that nonsense. We have other officials whose spouses have accompanied them to games. That's how families are rewarded for being tolerant of the time that sports officials give, because it does take a lot of time to ensure the proper adminstration of sports organizations. Mrs. Green could have gone with her husband if she wanted to. Sports officials are allowed to have companions at games, spouses, friends, etc. and the international bodies accredit these individuals, so why make a fuss out of nothing? The DOC does not bare the cost of companions of officials to games; these individuals have to bear the cost themselves. Please inform yourselves, that's the nature of international games. I have met entire families at games; the wives and children or the husbands and in laws of my colleagues. This is not an offense, so it is ridiculous to critize that. I will repeat, please inform yourselves before acusing people needlessly.

Mr. Sorhaindo's resignation was a big loss to the DOC and having been a sports administrator, I will say that a man of the calibre of Mr. Sorhaindo cannot easily be replaced. Had Mr. Sorhaindo not have sports and young people's interest at heart, he would have never written this article. Maybe some of you out there need to meet athletes who have been to international games, so that you are informed before you write. Finally, I wonder if we would get the same type of interest from the individuals vying for DOC offices if the stipend were set at about $20.00 US per day? Food for thought!!! Is the interest sports or the tangible benefits? Maybe some of you need to go to these games accompanied by some of these officials who keep the hefty stipends they get in their pockets, while they fill their guts with food from the cafeteria at the games villages and at the different reception areas in the stadiums and you will undertand why they are so desperate in their quest for power. Talk to the athletes, they will tell you about them; mere embarrassments. There are some however, who stand head and shoulders above the rest and these officialS we respect. I often wonder if the interest is sports, why these same individuals didn't continue to support DOC activities, Olympic Day run, etc.? Why do they only re-appear at election time? Thank God I am not an athlete anymore.