YBG, Gov’t Officials usher in 2013 NSBF

Jul 02, 2013 Sports

-National Final tips off at CASH

Amid attendance from senior Government Officials, Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) yesterday ushered in the 2013 National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF), which will be held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) that was recently renovated.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, Director of Sports Neil Kumar and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill were all in attendance at the NSBF Opening Ceremony.
Representatives of sponsors from Digicel, Banks DIH Limited and Beharry Group of Companies were in the mix as well to welcome the national finals for the competition that started with Zone playoffs some weeks ago around the country.
Prime Minister Hinds, in declaring the tournament open, pointed out that Guyana is still a young nation and thus there is time to inspire a national sports culture. YGB is hosting its eighth version of the Schools’ Basketball Championships.
“Our country is still very young and we’re still trying to find and build that feeling of team spirit and a spirit of team Guyana and I believe tournaments like these help,” Hinds said, adding that he would like to see more schools being involved in sports.
Dr. Anthony congratulated the players along with the YBG for hosting the tournament. Anthony stressed that Government will be looking to propagate more school programmes, while making it clear that the message of ‘healthy lifestyle’ must be preached.
Co-Director at YBG, Chris Bowman spoke of the value of the competition. “It’s a very important programme we have and I want the players to value it. The event has grown and expanded as we started off with one division and now have female divisions and regional conferences, and that is something to be proud of,” he said exactly.
“We do not want you to just play the game, we want you to be Ambassadors of the game and to hone your skills and most importantly respect the game because basketball is a beautiful game,” Bowman continued.
He informed that the NSBF has preserved the future of Guyana’s basketball and also thanked the sponsors and Government Officials for their role in the competition. Neil Kumar, as has become so customary, lambasted the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) for being unable to organise similar programmes for the sport.

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