The Pipeline - Series 1: Sports in Bermuda we want to break into and how we are gonna do it! (Part 2)

Hey everyone!

I hope you enjoyed last weeks post, the first edition of The Pipeline series! This post is basically Part 2 of last weeks post and will focus on additional sports that AceBoy Sports Group will be looking to break into in the coming years.

The following are sports that I believe ABSG have a chance to gain a foothold in through strategic partnership such as youth development, events, and sponsorship. While Part 1 focused on sports where our main method of integration would be representation, this one will identify sports that we can grow within in a different way. The sports I’ve highlighted to be more involved with in the next 5 years are as follows:

• Rugby

• Cricket

• Motorsports

• Volleyball

So now, lets get into it!

The purpose of exploring these sports…

While representation is a key pillar for AceBoy Sports Group, we also want to position ourselves within Bermuda as being a company that fosters the development of athletes and events on a local level. We aim to do this through events, youth development, and sponsorship within the above mentioned sports. I’ve singled out these sports in particular, as I believe their current communities, structures, and organizing bodies are best established to benefit from these kinds of strategic partnerships.

Why Rugby?

In my opinion, rugby is one of if not the only sport(s) in Bermuda with an extremely solid foundation. They have a good club system with a competitive, diverse league, a strong national team who frequently travel to compete in tournaments abroad, a solid youth development system, and good integration with the community through the annual Rugby Classic, which sees former pros from various countries (France, Argentina, Italy, etc.) taking part in charity matches over the course of a week (this is considered a large corporate event).

Due to this solid infrastructure already being in place, there isn’t necessarily one are I can see us breaking into thoroughly. I believe our best route would be sponsorship, probably starting out small with the Rugby Classic and then eventually moving into more corporate sponsorship through the event, with our own tent etc. However in the shorter term, I’d like to see us host our own rugby 7s tournament, which I think could really help us to establish ourselves in the local rugby community. Although rugby has a lot going on in Bermuda, there aren’t many standalone events throughout the sports annual calendar, which is something we could easily incorporate into our event schedule and build on from there.

Why Cricket?

Like football cricket can be considered as one of Bermuda’s national sports, at least in my opinion. Our largest local amateur sporting event is a cricket match, called Cup Match, which takes place over our national holiday which is in celebration of emancipation. The match is played between the St. George’s (the east end of the island) and Somerset (the west end of the island) over the span of two-days, which usually (at least in recent years) culminates in Somerset emerging victorious - a real dampener for St. George’s fans like myself! The point is with cricket, is that it is part of the fabric of sports in Bermuda, and incorporates a lot of Bermudian culture at the match. Additionally, the County Games (or “Cunny” if you’re real Bermudian) take place in the summer as well, effectively kicking off the cricket season. These Games mimic Cup Match, albeit not to the scale of the marquee event, but still wholesome and shows off a lot of what Bermudians love to do.

Unfortunately, our national cricket team hasn’t necessarily had the success in recent years that you might think. With a new national team coach however, excitement surrounds the Bermuda Cricket Board and the national team for the foreseeable future. Where we can see ourselves integrating in the sport, is as a sponsor for both the County Games and Cup Match, which would be a personal dream achieved, and I believe a significant accomplishment for AceBoy Sports Group locally. While we currently have some Bermudians playing cricket professionally abroad, most notably Delray Rawlins and Kamau Leverock, we don’t necessarily see cricket as a sport we want to incorporate into our representation strategy in the present or foreseeable future. Hopefully, with the continued efforts of the Bermuda Cricket Board, our young prospects will continue to develop and see chances to make a mark and start a career as a cricketer professionally abroad.

Why Motorsports?

In Bermuda we have an affinity for motorcycles; every 16 year old is eligible to get their 50cc license, and then 125cc/150cc license at age 18, and it is not uncommon for a driver to see a motorcyclist pop-a-wheelie while riding down the road! At present, we have one track in the east end of the island, which is utilized every weekend for motocross racing and go-karting. In addition to events on the land, powerboat racing also has a very deep-rooted cult following in Bermuda, and every summer there is a Round the Island powerboat race that takes place the weekend after Cup Match. For the purpose of this post, I’ve looped both into the motorsports category.

The major appeal for AceBoy Sports Group within motorsports is sponsorship. Every year in the Round the Island race, local companies sponsor the boats in varying classes. It is our goal to eventually fully sponsor a boat with our logo emblazoned across the hull. In addition to sponsoring a boat, we would also like to sponsor the race itself. The race has historic significance in Bermuda, and taking place right after Cup Match, it is solidified in the island’s sporting community. This would be a relatively straightforward way for us to be more involved with motorsports in Bermuda, but will most likely be an initiative that is executed towards the end of our 5 year timeline for this project.

Additionally, we view motocross and go-karting as two sports that utilize the exact same infrastructure and as sports we can positively impact through youth development via sponsorship. Instead of sponsoring races and events themselves, we would prefer to sponsor any development programs that the Bermuda Racing Association initiates for their young riders/drivers. Through this, it is our hope that we will be able to assist in the development of the young athletes in this sport, who are just lacking that extra quality in their training. Eventually we could see ourselves representing athletes in motocross, but time will tell as this is a sport that needs to grow and develop a little bit more locally. While we don’t have a massive presence in this sport at the moment, we hope to continue to strengthen our understanding of the sport and its community, and assist in its development.

Why Volleyball?

Unlike the previous sports mentioned on this list, volleyball doesn’t necessarily have much of a long standing in Bermuda’s sports ecosystem, at least to my knowledge. I would consider volleyball’s growth in popularity and boom in talent more recent than something that has been slowly building. In my opinion they receive quite a bit of funding from outside sources, and have a lot of interest in their summer beach volleyball league, which in my opinion is one of the stronger and more popular recreational leagues in Bermuda.

Our volleyball national teams for both men and women are very competitive, and we have seen a few of these athletes go on to represent their respective universities in either Canada or the United States. Where I can see AceBoy Sports Group getting more involved in volleyball is through youth development. We will be launching a new youth development program within the next year, and we would like volleyball to be a part of that. I’ve always viewed volleyball as such a fun sport because I think it is fairly easy to get the hang of, therefore it is somewhat simpler to start playing that other sports with more complex rules.

I don’t see us getting into representation within volleyball, but youth development will be a key pillar for us to establish within the sport. From here, I would like to then begin sponsoring local volleyball events, such as the summer beach volleyball league. While this is a more recreational/corporate league, it is still one of our main goals to build varying communities across Bermuda within different sports. Doing this in this kind of league will help us to expand further to a demographic we might not have touched otherwise.

What’s next?

Look forward to our next post next Friday!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Check you later!

Jason