YOUTH Basketball Guyana (YBG), the ‘custodian’ of schools basketball in Guyana, yesterday scored a $1.5M sponsorship deal from the Edward B. Beharry Group and Company Limited, as it prepares to host this year’s National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF).

The company, a long-time supporter of the YBG programme, made a presentation to the Chris Bowman and Rayad Boyce-led organisation, yesterday, at their Charlotte Street location, with Marketing Director Anjuli Beharry-Strand calling her entity’s support over the years “money well spent”.

Over the last decade, YBG has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the Beharry’s (Group), raking in millions in sponsorship, and with the emergence of the likes Stanton Rose, who burst onto the scenes through the Youth Basketball tournaments, that lucrative partnership is bearing fruit.

Beharry-Strand told the gathering of media and other stakeholders of the game that the YBG programme is “a wonderful forum to help young people,” and as such, her company will continue to give financial and other support.

“I think it’s important that the private sector invest in our youths in Guyana. There’s so much potential, there’s so much skill, these children just need an opportunity to showcase these skills. It builds self-confidence, it builds their ability to communicate and to think strategically and I think all these things are so important in empowering young people who ordinarily wouldn’t have this opportunity,” Beharry-Strand explained.

She further opined that “sports is an extraordinary important avenue that we need to look at and more people need to invest in it. Sports is something positive and we’re happy to be partners with the YBG and we look forward to this for years to come.”

Bowman said the success of YBG is owed to the Beharry’s (Group) and other corporate entities that have supported their initiative to have a continued and sustained schools basketball programme across Guyana.

The Youth Basketball Guyana National Schools Basketball Festival will bounce off on March 28 with the Regional playoffs which will run until June 28.

From June 29 to July 7, the tournament will host the National Championship at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.