Confident, aggressive and opinionated. All characteristics necessary if you are planning to reach the top of your chosen field.

Judy Simons has all of those to a certain extent, and a good many others besides. The first woman president in the 72-year history of the Bermuda Olympic Association, she is also driven, motivated, determined, and likeable.

Not everyone at that level manages to be all those things; very often likeable is the first thing that gets ditched.

There is an energy there as well, one that will be necessary for a job that deals with more governing bodies than any other on the Island.

The general secretary for the last eight years, Simons was voted into her new job last week. Alongside her will be Michael Cherry, who keeps his job as vice president, and Philip Guishard, who replaces Simons as the general secretary.

"I've always wanted to be president of the Olympic association," she said. "I won't deny that. I'm quite an aggressive woman, I have very strong opinions.

"I've been an athlete my entire life, I've always had a passion for the two sports I was primarily active in, tennis and field hockey, which has got me to where I am today.

"So I have been able to walk on both sides of the fence as an athlete and as an administrator, and you tend to see the things that need to be done."

In the infancy of her presidency, Simons and her new team, are full of energy and new ideas on where they want the organisation to go. And there is a focus, not only on the elite athletes, but on the grassroots aspect of sport in

Bermuda. For Simons the buzz that she is feeling from becoming president means she is aiming to hit the ground running. "I'm looking forward to some new and exciting things happening," she said.

"I have a great team around me, I think the change is exciting. There seems to be a buzz with the new executive, lots of ideas floating about how we can improve on where we have been in the last few years and how we can move forward. It's exciting times.

"Had we lost our way, I don't want to say that because I was part of the entire process over the last eight years.

"Could have we been a little bit more communicative with our affiliates, yes I think we could have, to the point in making sure that we understand exactly what they needed from us. I think we could have been a stronger link in that partnership, and I am a firm believer in partnerships."

Inclusiveness is likely to be a watchword for Simons' administration, the athletes who have the potential to go to the Olympics are just a small part of what the BOA does on the Island. And it is re-connecting with the lesser sports that is the new president's first priority.

"My immediate promise is to my affiliates," said Simons. "My mandate, should I have won, was to sit down with each of the affiliates and get back to the basic grassroots, and communicating and understanding what their goals and objectives are for their athletes. And how we can work together to reach those goals.

"Not everybody aspires to the Olympics, even though that is something that we're all about. You have to look at the grassroots programme and see how we can develop coaching portfolios, so they (the athletes) can reach whatever level they want to reach."

In the past the lesser known sports, and some of the less talented athletes have been passed-by as success at the Commonwalth and Olympic games appeared to be the raison d'etre for the movement in Bermuda. Simons doesn't want to change that entirely, but she does want to keep things in perspective.

"You do tend to look at the sports where we have done well, and I won't deny that, but I think we need to be a little bit broader and look at the entire picture," she said.

"Quite a few of our affiliates have great, great junior programmes in place. Good grass roots programmes and that is the future of sport in Bermuda, so we need to work to make sure these young athletes can move up the ladder.

"Do we throw money at it, no, because we don't have that kind of money to just throw around. I'd love to be able to support all the people, but there isn't just that money there."

While accepting the fact that the elite athlete programme needs a 'revamp', Simons believes that anyone who plays sport should be aiming as high as they can go.

"If I played sport, and I didn't have a goal, why would I be in the sport," she said. "There is one thing about social sports, and one thing about competitive sports. If I'm going in to competitive sport I want to do the best I can, and be the best I am, and that is a great attitude to have.

"You've got to have some kind of arrogance and confidence that you can do the best you can. Never trim your goals down, if you want to go to the Olympics, go for it, Pan Am, go for it.

"But we have got to remember the steps in which we get there, and the things like the Caribbean Games, you have an opportunity to get some of the lesser sports into that festival.

"You have to start at regional meets, you look at the athletes, is there the potential there. Yes there is, so you plan one-year, four-years, and so on."