When the calendar year of 2016 began, few would have imagined that Guyana’s basketball would end the year in the position it is in.
That position is a good,so says National coach and president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA)Junior Hercules. There were 10 tournaments played in total at both the senior and junior level with the shining moments of the year coming from the Junior side of local basketball.
The first noteworthy improvement Hercules mentioned was in the table officiating.
“Our table official pool has increased, we’ve seen a more diverse pool with new faces and that is good,” stated Hercules. However,he added that there is a needed for improvement in refereeing.
“Refereeing has to improve;it is not an attractive field so there is a lot of recycling of officials so there hasn’t been much improvement.”
His recommendations included paying more attention to the field and not just talking about the deficiencies of the referees.
Other signs of growth came from the Junior players. There were 8 junior tournaments played this year versus two senior tournaments. The reality check however came when junior players outplayed the senior players in the two senior tournaments. Stanton Rose was named MVP of the Road to Mecca 3 club tournament.Rose,along withTerron Welch,were the leaders on the senior team that travelled to Jamaica in November.
“Our Under- 23s have definitely shown improvement by virtue of level of competition through school or GABA enhancement,” Hercules stated. He added that Guyana’s second place performance at the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) U-16 Championships was an indicator of growth.
“Our second place at such a high level shows what can be achieved when adequate preparation is done, also our juniors have grown as a result of the international and regional exposures they have gotten.” On the senior side,he stated that there had only been two tournaments for the year,so an adequate assessment could not be given.
For Hercules, a blueprint was set this year as to where basketball should go. “We need to make sure our school program is connected to clubs and our national programs, the framework is there, so the future looks promising. We’ve gotten more players exposed from around the country to basketball and that is a good sign”
He added that what is needed is a coming together of will power and resources in addition to a coming together of decision makers that would definitely push basketball into the future.
“We need a body to come together from the level of the Sports Commission;yes,the federation and association is there but we need better infrastructure and investments need to be made.”
He finished by stating that Guyana has the potential to be at the level of other countries in terms of basketball development but the incentives just need to be present.
