Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 26, 2010 Sports
Street Solutions of Main Street, Georgetown has been involved in basketball for youths for the past five years, and has been closely supported by the Ministry of Sport under Director of Sport, Neil Kumar.
Operations Assistant for Street Solutions Kurt Wilson told Kaieteur News that so far the organisation has been very successful in its work. Regarding the School’s Basketball Festival, which has also been a successful event to date, they expect it to be more than that this year.
Thirty teams, all taken from High or Secondary Schools, are expected to participate, seven of which are from out of town. This fifth edition of the Basketball Festival begins on Sunday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and will last for nine days. The grand finale is expected to take place on July 4 with the playing of the All Stars game.
Wilson states that his organisation is focused on developing youths in Guyana through the medium of sports, basketball has been chosen as one such medium. But there are some drawbacks. He pointed out that this particular sport does not get enough attention at the grass roots level, “Which is important if we are going to have and develop senior players,” Wilson declared, adding that it is for this reason the organisation is pushing for more improvement of the tournament which they hope will only get better.
The intention is to use the School’s Basketball Festival as a talent pool. “We will use it to identify players for the Guiana games and for the national team which would always need new players with talent to carry it on,” he stated.
The organisers are especially proud of the fact that there are seven out of town teams participating in the tournament. The teams are from Berbice and Linden. Additionally, for the first time the festival will include five all-female teams. According to Wilson, “You cannot want to develop a sport without including the young ladies!”
He pointed out that a mixed team from Linden did quite well in the last tournament.
But so far, young basketball players in Guyana have only been playing at home against home teams. Wilson says that they have nothing to do with the senior players. Yet at the same time these young players need to get some outside competition in order to hone their skills.
So how can Guyana get her young players off into the regional arena? Wilson is of the opinion that when it comes to sports in general in Guyana, specifically basketball, there is a crying need for much more organisation to develop the sport further. He insists that the country needs to develop basketball through youths. “I am not saying that the powers that be are incompetent, but for you to put something forward, you need corporate investments first of all,” he emphasised.
There is the need for people who have the time and skill to work and develop the game. “We need Government funding, which government is trying its best to do. We need good coaches,” Wilson stated. Pointing out that good coaches are very expensive, he stated that this is one of the reasons Guyana suffers in many levels of sports. “Sometimes because we simply don’t have the money to invest in the facilities and coaches that other countries have,” he lamented. Guyana needs to grow on its talent, he declared observing that young people have begun to get excited about the game. “The generation before was interested in cricket and maybe football, now Basketball is getting very popular,” he said. It is just a matter of harnessing their talent he posited. He cautioned however, that while the sport may fall in the top five bracket, corporate Guyana would need to see some quality before they decide on the extent of their support.
Wilson pointed out that the Schools’ Basketball Festival provides the unique opportunity to do so since it is recognised as the national youth basketball championship. (Ursulla Ramdayal)
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Apr 19, 2024
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