Donnie Knowles (left) and his wife Mary Woodside Knowles (right) and some of the girls from the Grand Bahama Girls Soccer League.
Management
Grand Bahama Soccer Club is managed by Donnie Knowles and Mary Woodside-Knowles, co-founders of the Grand Bahama Girls' Soccer Development Programme.
Donnie Knowles was honoured for his contributions to sport in 2012 at the Bahamas Law Enforcement Sports Challenge, and again in 2013 by the Kamalamee Organization.
In his youth, Donnie was the soccer team captain at Aquinas Boys College; he played in 3 Bahamas Games for Grand Bahama Island; he was a Bahamas National Team player, and he even got a taste of the pro leagues in Scotland and England until he broke his leg before signing the big contract. During his coaching years, Donnie was called to both head coach and be an assistant coach to the Bahamas Women’s National Team for both World Cup and Olympic qualifiers.
“Behind every great man, is a great woman!” and Mary Knowles is a dynamic force. A 2019 Bahamas Football Association’s Beacon of Light Honouree, her love for football started when she met her husband Donnie. He coached and she played in the women’s division in the Grand Bahama Football League (GBFL). Mary represented The Bahamas at the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup Qualifiers from 2000 – 2002.
Mary’s focus has been the development of women’s soccer in The Bahamas where every girl can play regardless of her skill. Part of that same drive was to increase female players on the island which resulted in the formation of the more competitive Grand Bahama Champions League (GBCL).
Donnie and Mary at the 2018 opening ceremonies for the Grand Bahama Women’s Champions League.
The GBSC went on to establish a community partnership in support of the YMCA. They organized and operated a grassroots program for the YMCA in exchange for the use of their field.
Mary and Donnie’s vision for football in Grand Bahama is to have highly qualified coaches, guiding players in a state-of-the-art training facility, with the aim of producing top players who would be afforded a greater opportunity to acquire college scholarships and move on to be competitive at an international level.
In 2019, they were recognized by the Ministry of Education for their outstanding service and the development of soccer in Grand Bahama Island. See image below.
