… DC Jammers to arrive tomorrow
CELLULAR service provider Digicel has continued its spending trend towards sports in Guyana, as over $250 000 was handed over to Wild Fire Entertainment, yesterday, towards the hosting of the inaugural Godwin McPherson Goodwill basketball tournament. The series, which will feature Guyana’s Male and Female National basketball teams against the Washington DC Jammers and South Carolina Lady All-Star respectively; is set to run from August 19 to 24 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
According to Digicel’s Public Relations and Sponsorship Manager Shonnet Moore, her company is more than happy to be once again giving back to basketball and more so now, since it will be to a cause where our national team will have a chance not only to be back in competition, but also to pay homage to a man who has dedicated a great portion of his life to developing the game.
Wild Fire Entertainment (WFE), a well established and reputable promotional group known for bringing some of  the biggest stage shows to Guyana, was engaged by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) to handle the area of marketing and promoting the highly anticipated event, and its representative Vijay Panday had expressed pleasure in having Digicel on board.
Meanwhile, DC Jammers are expected to arrive in Guyana tomorrow morning and would be looking to make up for their three-year absence from competition against their local counterparts.
The team is made up primarily of players who are of Guyanese descent and who have represented Guyana at the regional level before.
Michael Creppy Sr is tasked once again with coaching the team this year that again features players such as veteran centre Lancelot Loncke, forward Dexter Martin and other players who have excelled at the US Collegiate levels and have had experience in playing Pro-basketball in and out of the US.
Guyana, though, have not named their playing 12 members but they have been boosted with the inclusion of forward Andrew ‘Mr’ Ifill.
Ifill mentioned before returning home on Sunday last that he’s more than looking forward to playing against the DC Jammers who he feels are more than worthy opponents for any team looking to make an international comeback.
Coach Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan will be assisted by Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid.
Cadogan. a former senior National player, while admitting that the team is not to the level he had expected leading up to the tournament, said that he “is working with what he has” and remains convinced that his string of players will spring surprises.
The Guyanese fans have been yearning for the return of some international basketball to these shores and more so the return of the Washington DC Jammers who have entertained a crammed Cliff Anderson Sports hall over the years.
It’s been well over a year since the passing of McPherson – a man who many hailed as a pioneer in the development of basketball around the Caribbean during his almost two decades at the helm of the GABF.
His successor and his right-hand man where basketball duties are concerned, David Patterson, had pledged when taking office to return the sport to the heydays where it flourished under the man many called ‘Mac’.