Director of Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) Chris Bowman described the 2026 National Schools Basketball Festival as a success despite some challenges.
Bowman, speaking to some sections of the media at the weekend contended that, “We were able to bring over 500 student athletes together to compete and have another NSBF in year 19. It wasn’t easy. It was a success that we completed another year of basketball, and when you think about it, we had to shift our focus to make use of the National Gymnasium for this year’s championship. We had a number of logistical challenges in that regard. One of the things YBG has done over the 19 years is persevere; we could not get to year 19 without perseverance and adapting to various situations.”
The YBG Director said, that the success outside of Georgetown shows the benefits of their developmental initiatives, adding, “We have had more out-of-town teams competing for a chance to get to the finals than we have had from Georgetown; we are talking about teams from Berbice and Region 10. It was really satisfying to have such an expansion in terms of participation.”
He placed a spotlight on the game’s growth in Berbice as evidence of the efforts of the teachers’ work in the region.
“We are really happy about the work being done in region 6, in particular the efforts by the teams in terms of taking ownership of the game in their region,” also noting the addition of regions 2 and 9 teams this year as good indicators for the future of the competition.
St. Rose’s High has captured the Under-16, while President’s College won the U18 and girls’ titles, and Hururu Secondary emerged victorious in the U14 category when the tournament concluded.