A normal day working out in the gym has turned into a huge opportunity for local basketball standout Freddie 'Slugger' Lightbourne. He beat out nine other competitors from the region to be crowned Mr. Caribbean International.
A normal day working out in the gym has turned into a huge opportunity for local basketball standout Freddie 'Slugger' Lightbourne. He beat out nine other competitors from the region to be crowned Mr. Caribbean International.
The competition took place in Runaway Bay, Jamaica at the annual Hedonism on October 13th. It focused on the physique and intellect of the competitors
Police Constable Lightbourne said he got involved after being invited to take part in the local edition of the competition (Mr. Caribbean Bahamas) by Director Steven Robinson a National Bodybuilding Coach and a Fitness Trainer.
"I was at the Body Zone Fitness Centre in the Sea Grapes Shopping Centre just doing my normal workout trying to stay in shape, and he approached me and asked me if I would be interested in the competition. After some thought I decided to give it a shot," said Lightbourne in a recent interview with the Journal.
Asked if there were any nerves once he entered the competition he said there were some "jitters" knowing The Bahamas is very much a macho society and he had concerns about what his friends would think about him entering the competition.
"Once I got involved I was surprised by the support I got. Everybody was cool with it once they understood what the competition was about. In fact some of my friends told me, you believe you hot anyhow so you might as well go prove it," he said jokingly.
After the fitness competition, tuxedo competition, physique swim wear competition, a talent segment and a question and answer period, Lightbourne was dubbed the best among the 10 competitors, with the participant
from the United States second and Guyana third.
Lightbourne won over $5,000 in cash and prizes along with several opportunities that will come his way in 2010, including going back to Jamaica next year to hand over the title to the new champion.
Lightbourne will also head to Canada to be a special guest at their show next year. "I'm hoping that by winning the title it would allow me the opportunity to get into some other things in terms of personal training, modeling and other areas of the music, television and fashion world," he explained.
For starters he is expected to be one of the focal points of the Mr. Caribbean International Calendar for 2011, and he will produce a personal 2010 calendar for The Bahamas.
"I absolutely did not expect to be in this position when I first agreed to enter the competition, I just worked out for the heck of it and to stay in shape for basketball which I play a lot of; but I never thought it would open up these opportunities for me,” said Lightbourne.
He said now he looks at staying fit differently and he is now trying to stay consistent with his gym workouts “because you never know when another opportunity will present itself."
Asked if his fans can expect to see him on a National Bodybuilding and Fitness team in the future he answered, "Well probably the fitness team, but bodybuilding may be a bit too much; that is too much weight and it may affect my basketball play," he said.
Lightbourne who says basketball is his first love, plays the guard position and he has a couple of Bahamas Government Departmental Basketball Association (BGDBA) Championship titles under his belt.
He was also on the Police Crime Stoppers team that lost to the Electro Telecom Cybots in the championships series of the BGDBA in September.
He also watches a lot of football and love sports in general. “Once it has something to do with scoring and there is a winner and a loser i could get interested.”
He is looking forward to the upcoming New Providence Basketball Association season that starts with preseason action on Friday October 23. He also expects to be “clowned” by his teammates.
