FOLLOWING the completion of the National Schools’ Basketball Festival last July, Guyana’s male and female basketball teams which will compete in this year’s Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) to be held in Suriname, have been undergoing intense preparations, thanks, to telecommunications service provider Digicel.
Addressing the media in the sponsors Barrack Street, Kingston boardroom, manager of the teams Chris Bowman said he was grateful to Digicel for the role they played with the preparation of the teams over the three months period.
“As you are all aware, the Inter-Guiana Games is a joint agreement between the Governments of the three countries involved, namely Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana.
But the respective associations of the sports disciplines that is being contested at the games namely, football, volleyball, cycling, chess, basketball and athletics, are the ones responsible for getting their athletes ready to compete,” stated Bowman.
He added, “Digicel came on board with us at the completion of the Schools’ Festival wherein we selected both the male and female teams to compete in this year’s IGG and from that point to now, we have been able to take the team through several preparatory exercises under their respective coaches. These include trips to Kwakwani, following a 10 day encampment and I must say thanks to Digicel for the support given to us since July.”
In outlining the composition of this year’s team, Bowman who is also the co-founder of Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG), said that approximately four or five male players and the same number of female players are returning from last year’s lineup, while only one male player hails from Georgetown, with the others coming from Linden, Berbice and Kwakwani respectively.
Commenting on both teams’ preparations, the former Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association president was high in praise for the two coaches in Lugard Mohan and Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan who has been putting in yeoman service at times beyond the call of duty.
“I think we have done all the hard work in preparing the teams, thanks to Digicel, Banks DIH and even the National Sports Commission, wherein we created the right environment for the players, while the coaches have been doing their part as well.
I think that Mohan has been doing a  beyond the call of duty job with the boys, nurturing them along, implanting some of his knowledge as he is a former national player and CARICOM All-Star, especially being aware of their narrow lost of the title at the last IGG.
Having said that, I think that all the pieces are in place for a successful tournament from both teams and even if we don’t return with either championships, I am sure they will churn out creditable performances to make their countrymen proud of them.”
Public Relations Manager of Digicel, Shonnet Moore, expressed her company’s delight at being associated with the teams and urged them to go forward and give of their best in the tournament, while another co-founder of YBG Ryad Boyce thanked Digicel for their support to the teams.
Guyana will leave for Suriname on October 19 and play their first game two days later.