Elizabeth Ann Ibeh is the kind of employee that every organization looks for – a keen and diligent worker who quietly carries out her duties behind the scenes, supports her colleagues and goes the extra mile to keep operations ticking or to ensure that events run smoothly.
Ibeh is one of 10 women that Department of Sports Women’s Coordinator, Merta Day, has chosen to be profiled during 2014 Honoring Women’s Month. Ibeh is known to embody all the C’s words: Character, Courage, and Commitment.
Day said, “Women are often the central organizing figures, but their work is often in the background and many people do not realize the effort and hours that go into making either the organization or events work smoothly. Liz has given selflessly throughout the years and we would like to pay tribute to her hard work.”
As a young girl growing up in these islands, Ibeh enjoyed watching track and field events and at times even wished she could be like the great Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey.
However, in her early years, the islands did not have a well organized program to get young women into sport, so Ibeh was forced to put those dreams aside.
However, in 1989 she noticed that her eldest son Robert had the inclination and talent for athletics. She decided to give him her full support to pursue sports and with two other athletically inclined children, Andrew and Richard, she has never looked back.
“I always enjoyed sports while growing up, particularly track and field,” Ibeh said. “I enjoyed watching the speed, strength and endurance it takes to win a race.
“The talent, determination and guts it takes to be a good athlete bring a sense of appreciation, enjoyment, entertainment and inspiration and causes an adrenaline rush, especially in a very close competitive field of athletes.”
She went from being a supporter to volunteer and then a committee member of a track club in 1996, which was about the time the national athletics coach arrived on Grand Cayman.
From there, her role expanded to assistant secretary of the Cayman Islands Athletic Association in 1998. She later became manager of various national teams and she is still involved with the CIAA as chief timekeeper.
“My first assignment was as manager of the CAC Games, in Maracaibo, Venezuela,” Ibeh said. “Throughout the years, I have managed many successful teams.
“My biggest success was as manager of the 2010 Commonwealth Games team that competed in India, where Cydonie Mothersill won gold in the women’s 200 meters. It was a great success that made the athletes and country happy and proud, and where our own Cayman athlete gained much international attention.
“I am very passionate about track and field and want to remain involved, whether at an administrative or officiating level. What I would like to see now though is for athletics to run continually at an organized and competitive level.”
She added, “I would definitely encourage persons to assist with sporting leagues/committees, because the only way the CIAA can remain in operation is with good support. Sport has helped me to be focused and to stay fit and healthy, and I would do it all over again.”
Ibeh also encouraged young women to become involved in sport to aid in their development. “It keeps them strong, focused, involved in a healthy activity and hopefully out of trouble. It also increases self-esteem, competitiveness and fights obesity,” she said.
In fact, Ibeh takes her own health seriously by working out at least three times a week weight training and cardio which helps her to remain trim and lean, and, of course, healthy.
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