GABBFF President predicts a successful year

Mar 15, 2014 Sports

– female participation continues to be a challenge

Following the success of their Fitness Express sponsored Novice Championship at the Theatre Guild Playhouse on March 1st, 2014 where Sylvester Andrews of Total Fitness Gym was crowned Overall champion after winning the Light Heavyweight category, Guyana Amateur Body Building Fitness Federation (GABBFF) President Keavon Bess has predicted a successful year for the sport.
Commenting on the overall outcome of the show, Bess said that he was satisfied that the athletes came out in their numbers and put on a good display while the fans enjoyed the show and went away pleased.

Keavon Bess (right) and Jamie Mc Donald of Fitness Express with 2014 Novice winner Sylvester Andrews.

Bess noted that the federation was heartened with the responses they got from the various gyms with regard to sending up athletes to compete, noting that it is always a challenge to find athletes for Novices.
“It’s more easy to find athletes for seniors but I am pleased that we were able to find so many athletes to put on stage for this competition.”
The GABBFF President indicated that they would be placing more emphasis on working with the lighter athletes given the fact that Guyana has been excelling in this area at the CAC level in the past couple of years.
Bess informed that there will be about four to five major competitions for the remainder of the year.
“We have the Hugh Ross Classic coming up this month end and this would be followed by the Seniors, Muscle Explosion and the Flex Night would be capping off the year and these are competitions of high standards, so all in all, I think body building is doing fine.”
Female participation in the sport according to Bess continues to be a major challenge for the federation.
“A lot of persons are still under the impression that women should not be in body building but we are trying to get them to come out more and to encourage them that body building is not the only category that they can go into. We have other categories like the Ms. Body Fitness, Physique and Bikini segments that don’t require them to go and lift the heaviest weights.”
The GABBFF according to Bess, will be trying to secure a female guest poser (Bikini) for their Seniors who can showcase and help to motivate more females to come back into the competitive aspect of the sport.