Primary schools’ tournament on the cards this year
PREMIER grassroot sport organiser, Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) will, this year, introduce a primary schools’ tournament as part of its 2024 agenda.

The organisation will then run off that tournament and introduce the game with structure and rules to younger learners from May 12- June 16 at the National Gymnasium, according to YBG Director, Chris Bowman.
According to the YBG director, the organisation, which has been in the business of youth basketball for more than a decade, hosted its academy development tournament last month in New Amsterdam.

And this coming weekend, they are aiming to push off their Challenge Series and Shooting Competition.
That programme is designed to showcase the fundamentals of the game by testing athlete’s skills in shooting, passing, dribbling and core movement.

After the weekend specular, the regional conference tournament will tip off from March 15, take a break from May 6 to June 14 CSEC examination and resume to head in to the playoff.

The Regionals are qualifying tournaments for schools hoping to compete in the National School Basketball Championship.
There are six regional zones with schools from Region 3 and East Bank, Region 4 and East Coast Demerara, Region 5, Region 6 New Amsterdam and Corentyne, Region 7 and Region 10 competing.

The games are scheduled for the National Gymnasium and schools in the different regions.
The youths will battle it out in the girls 18 and under and the boys under 14, under 16 and under18.
Also on the cards this year in May and June is the Tertiary Basketball League which is geared to keep university and technical institute players engaged after high school.

YBG’s flagship competition, the National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) which is into its 17th edition is scheduled to be staged from June 28 to July 7.
The NSBF sees the top high schools’ teams from the different regions converging for a week of intense action to determine the championship school of each category.

The body will then close out the year with its Titan Bowl schools knock-out tournament and tertiary knock-out tournament from December 12-15.
YBG is sponsored by ExxonMobil, G-boat Guyana, Edward Beharry group of companies and the National Sport Commission.