THE 19th edition of the KFC National School Basketball Festival (NSBF) National Championship was officially launched on Friday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on homestretch.
The one-week basketball festival runs from June 28 to July 5 at the same venue and will feature all the top teams that competed in the regional basketball conference series.
Director Chris Wayne Bowman remarked on how the tournament has grown, noting its contribution to creating opportunities for young athletes.
“For the first time, Region 9 would come to the festival; that’s a big deal for us. For the first time, schools from Essequibo will come to the festival. For the first time, the schools in Berbice will outnumber the schools in Georgetown,” Bowman added.
He said the competition has seen over 14,000 students pass through the programme.
One of the measures introduced this year to ensure the development of more players is the limiting of players to one division.
“The tournament was sort of skill-dominant and not developmental, so the good players would get most of the running time on both (U-14, U-16, and U-18) teams, but now with the separation we have more players with the opportunity to play and to develop, and we believe with this we are going to have bona fide divisional champions.’
Meanwhile, Melisa Jeffers of KFC Guyana said this year, “marks a significant milestone for our company as we celebrate 15 consecutive years of sponsoring Youth Basketball Guyana. This enduring partnership reflects one of our core values: a strong belief that investing in youth sports is investing in the future of Guyana.”
A highlight of the launch was the official unveiling of the championship trophies that schools will compete for during this year’s tournament.
Also speaking was assistant director of sports, Franklin Wilson, who said the National Sports Commission remains committed to supporting sporting incentives.
“19 years of consistent organising is no simple feat, and they need to be complemented; I think they sometimes are very modest in what they have achieved……. His Excellency is an ardent supporter of sports, and one of the initiatives is to have basketball courts constructed in most of the schools, if not all of the schools, in Guyana. That is a project that has commenced and will complement what YBG has been doing.”
The tournament is the grand culmination of the country’s schools basketball programme and will see intense grassroots basketball competition in the girls’ and boys’ U-14, U-16 and U-18 categories.
