Bodybuilding President Sumner Receive Worlds Highest Judging Card

In an interview with The Bahama Journal Sports Department on Tuesday morning Sumner who was accompanied by Grand Bahama's Trevor Bethel, described the seminar as historic for local bodybuilding and admitted that the course conducted by IFBB Chief Judge  Powell Phillbourn  and Assistant Secretary General for the IFBB William Turney was "intense and educational."
 "Right now my judging credential is at the highest rank at the world level, putting me on par with any IFBB judge in any part of the world. My card has gone from the medium level to the top level," he explained.
"Preparation was important.  We had to down load a lot of information from the IFBB website as it pertained to judging, statistics work and we went through a lot of doping procedures. As a judge these are things you have to know in order to be certified," he explained.

Sumner was disappointed with the small number of Bahamian judges that made the trip but boiled it down to a slow economy, admitting that he too struggled to find funds to go to the seminar.
Sumner believes the IFBB hosted the seminar because "judging plays a very important part in the enhancement and development in any sports discipline and the IFBB wants to improve on the quality of judges that are judging at the various levels."
The Ministers of Sports and the Olympic Association President from all of the participating countries were invited to the seminar “to have dialogue with the federation president in terms of fostering a better relationship when it comes to officiating and judging."
There were more than 20 countries that were represented with a total of 50 delegates and judges including the IFBB Vice President Javier Pollock.
In addition to Sumner getting his credentials Bethel who was recently certified as the local judge for the Northern Bahamas took a big step in his goal to get on The Bahamas National Judging Panel as well as become a certified international judge.  "It was Bethel’s first experience in that capacity and he did well by  gaining the exposure he needs on the international level," said Sumner who
Sumner is excited about two major local competitions in July beginning with the Grand Bahama Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships.
The Grand Bahama event will be organized by Bethel and Acting President Maurice Hall. The Grand Bahama championship is expected to feature at least seven athletes from Long Island, two from Abaco and 15 from the capital. 
"We are looking forward to a very good show in Grand Bahama this year and plans have already been finalized, and we just need all of  the registered athletes that have committed to show up and we should have a good time in Grand Bahama," said Sumner.
As it relates to the National Championships, they will be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts.  Sumner said in addition to a good number of new faces, he expects to see some of the veteran bodybuilders return to the scene making the competition quite intriguing.
He is also excited about reigning National Champions Jay Darling and Paul Wilson being invited to compete at the World Games in Taiwan set for July 16th. However, he did say that finding the funds to send them will be a task.      
Additionally, Sumner said local bodybuilders are anxious to defend their Caribbean and Central American Title in Grenada this year beginning at the end of September.  "We not going to let anyone beat us right now at the CAC level," he said.