PREPARATIONS for the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) U-17 National 3×3 Tournament are set to commence in the new week, says Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Junior Hercules.The tournament is set to be hosted in February in the island of St Lucia. According to Hercules, the official email which includes tourney dates and other details will arrive in the new week.
“Preparations will start in the new week specific to readiness of the players and rules etc,” said Hercules. He added that during the upcoming week he will reach out to the players for their passport documents and verifications.
He was also of the opinion that in order for there to be good preparation, access should be afforded to multiple all-weather playing venues.
“I will discuss a possible engagement with the Federation to see the selected team’s training time, rules overview and games to test (their) readiness” Hercules stated.
The National team that will be representing Guyana is the Kwakwani Combine team which featured three Junior National players who competed in the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) in October.
The team is made up of Stanton Rose, Jamal Gilkes, Timothy Thompson and Jonathan Mangra with the former two hailing from Kwakwani. Rose is also the reigning Road to Mecca 3 MVP and National School Basketball Festival MVP.
Commenting on the team Hercules stated, “Rose is the best young player in the country, Thompson has shown he has the potential, Mangra has some experience and has proved he can play. Gilkes is very talented and just needs some polishing so for that age group it’s the best we have.”
Hercules highlighted strategy, skills and consistency as the factors needed to win the tournament.