… harsh lessons learnt in Puerto Rico

By Daniel Haynes
IN THE recently concluded 2016 U-15 Centrobasket Championships in Patillas, Puerto Rico, Guyana learnt the hard way what Centrobasket basketball is all about. The team suffered three losses in their three games but gained invaluable experience.

The losses by the team had persons asking questions, with one such question being if experience helped the performances.
Answering these questions was team manager Alex Graham who stated that the experience was worth it.
“You can’t get experience by staying at home, these U-15 players are the future of basketball and experience is part of the growing process.”
Graham highlighted the fact that Jermaine King, one of the Guyanese players, placed in the top three performers for the tournament. He also added that the tournament was the first time for the players, in addition to the other teams fielding overseas players.
“Other teams in the tournament had overseas players and these are players who were accustomed to playing at a higher level, Guyana was the only country with home-grown players,” Graham said.
In an exclusive comment to Chronicle Sport, team captain Kwesi Roberts, weighed in on the experience.
“The tournament was one which demonstrated a very high level of basketball in all aspects, especially the physical and mental aspect of the game,” stated Roberts.
Roberts also offered comments on the high level of play and Guyana’s performance in relation to moving forward.
“We will stop at nothing to be excellent basketball players, as we prepare ourselves to be if not dominant, at least very competitive in another tournament similar to the previous one.”
“However, the only way we can improve is to ensure we allow the experience to be our drive to much-needed development,” Roberts explained.
It is hoped that the team will improve and basketball will improve. The National Sports Commission (NSC) offered a statement on the athletes’ performance stating the lack of overseas exposure was to blame.
“Essentially, the performance of the athletes perhaps was due to a lack of overseas exposure; it is with this in mind that at the NSC we request a calendar of events from associations and federations to ensure we make representation in a timely manner to secure greater budgetary allocations.”
Additionally the NSC added its appreciation of the athletes and stated its plans for development programmes to aid associations in athlete development.