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PRESIDENT of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) David Patterson says that Guyana will be producing two teams to represent the Land of Many Waters at this year’s Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships. Though a date and host country has not yet been named by the CBC, Patterson is hoping for it to be in one of the eastern Caribbean states since it would make Guyana’s road to participation easy and not those that require British or US Visas.
“Visa or not we will be playing this year but it’s just that if the tournament is played in places like Barbados, Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago, it would be much easier and less stressful for us to administratively put things together. It was hinted that Jamaica was going to bid, but it will be finalised at the congress,” said Patterson.
The CBC will be holding its Annual Congress on February 2 in the United States territorial Island of St Thomas and speaking with Chronicle Sport exclusively yesterday, Patterson said “the GABF will be attending the meeting because it’s very important for us to know what’s happening within basketball and to plan the year for the Federation”.
Guyana competed at the last championships, held in the Bahamas in 2011 and finished seventh, playing with only local players.
However, according to Patterson, at this year’s tournament, the team will see overseas players being part of the contingent, since several of them are already in contact with the Federation.
“This time around we are involving the guys from overseas, so now we have to sit and work out a selection process because we want the best possible team representing Guyana. So to all who had been contact with us over the past year, we told them to get their documents in place and we to make sure that they meet the eligibility criteria, but certainly we are involving them this year,” Patterson noted.
Looking ahead, the GABF president said that they are currently planning their Inter-Association Championship which will serve as a selection process to shortlist local players.
“The CBC tournament is normally held in July, so we have the Inter-Association planned for February, and then we will host DC Jammers. Last year the Associations did play some basketball and this year we have a lot of work to do, but certainly we are looking forward to seeing Guyana play at the CBC Championship,” Patterson noted.
Asked if Guyana will be sending a female team, Patterson said, “Certainly, because the women are not as hard to put together. We have a good crop of local players who were on the team that won the tournament in Antigua last year and we’re just going to blend them with some of the overseas girls”.
The CBC Championship or Caribebasket is a FIBA-sponsored basketball tournament in which national teams from the Caribbean participate. The top three or four teams typically earn berths to Centrobasket where they compete for spots in the FIBA Americas Championship, from which they can qualify for the FIBA World Championship or Olympics.
Until 2002, this tournament was called the CARICOM Basketball Championship. Through 2011, the senior championships had been held 21 times for the men and 20 times for the women.
“Visa or not we will be playing this year but it’s just that if the tournament is played in places like Barbados, Jamaica or Trinidad and Tobago, it would be much easier and less stressful for us to administratively put things together. It was hinted that Jamaica was going to bid, but it will be finalised at the congress,” said Patterson.
The CBC will be holding its Annual Congress on February 2 in the United States territorial Island of St Thomas and speaking with Chronicle Sport exclusively yesterday, Patterson said “the GABF will be attending the meeting because it’s very important for us to know what’s happening within basketball and to plan the year for the Federation”.
Guyana competed at the last championships, held in the Bahamas in 2011 and finished seventh, playing with only local players.
However, according to Patterson, at this year’s tournament, the team will see overseas players being part of the contingent, since several of them are already in contact with the Federation.
“This time around we are involving the guys from overseas, so now we have to sit and work out a selection process because we want the best possible team representing Guyana. So to all who had been contact with us over the past year, we told them to get their documents in place and we to make sure that they meet the eligibility criteria, but certainly we are involving them this year,” Patterson noted.
Looking ahead, the GABF president said that they are currently planning their Inter-Association Championship which will serve as a selection process to shortlist local players.
“The CBC tournament is normally held in July, so we have the Inter-Association planned for February, and then we will host DC Jammers. Last year the Associations did play some basketball and this year we have a lot of work to do, but certainly we are looking forward to seeing Guyana play at the CBC Championship,” Patterson noted.
Asked if Guyana will be sending a female team, Patterson said, “Certainly, because the women are not as hard to put together. We have a good crop of local players who were on the team that won the tournament in Antigua last year and we’re just going to blend them with some of the overseas girls”.
The CBC Championship or Caribebasket is a FIBA-sponsored basketball tournament in which national teams from the Caribbean participate. The top three or four teams typically earn berths to Centrobasket where they compete for spots in the FIBA Americas Championship, from which they can qualify for the FIBA World Championship or Olympics.
Until 2002, this tournament was called the CARICOM Basketball Championship. Through 2011, the senior championships had been held 21 times for the men and 20 times for the women.
