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Jan 01, 2015 Sports
– NSC, YBG, GOA were biggest challenges of 2014
By Edison Jefford
Against the background of returning both male and female teams to the Caribbean Championship
that helped secure a full basketball scholarship for female prodigy, Ginelle Ifill, and a robust sub-association in Georgetown, local basketball enjoyed its most productive season in the last decade owed largely to its new leadership.
Under the stewardship of businessman and finance expert, Nigel Hinds, the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) has engineered a path for future development with its excellent performance in 2014 albeit the systemic challenges.
The federation announced its presence earlier in the year with a ‘Mecca Eliminator Series’ that featured over 12 emerging clubs from across Guyana, playing for a place among the top seeded teams from Linden and Georgetown for the National Club Championship.
Following the Eliminator Series, the GABF bounced into action again with its ‘Road to Mecca’ National Club Championships, ‘Mecca’ being the epithet for the hub of local basketball, the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
It marked the historic hosting of the first ever National Basketball Club Championship in Guyana and gave a true reflection of basketball talents across the country. Ravens Basketball Club won it all when they won the title and rights to be called the best club in Guyana.
The National Club Championships was an extensive competition, which saw the last eight teams all receiving prize monies. Following that event, GABF hosted an All-Star
Game that featured an energised Ravens against a combined ‘best of the rest’. Ravens underlined their quality when just a point separated the two teams in an entertaining showdown.
The national federation also hosted the Media against the Diplomatic Corps, as well as an Inter sub-association competition among Berbice, Georgetown and Linden, which was another historic event, given that such a contest was not held in over a decade.
The GABF continued to roll out its robust 2014 Programme when it had full gender participation at the 2014 Caribbean Championship, July-August, in the British Virgin Islands. National Club’s Championship was held to select the national team to represent Guyana at the Caribbean C/ships in Tortola, BVI.
The GABF Executives with support from some corporate entities funded Guyana’s participation to CBC with full male and female teams to the tune of US$15,000. Guyana had not had both of its teams’ participation in 18 years, finishing fifth among the men and creating an opportunity for the talented Ifill to be spotted in the female competition.
In addition, the GABF funded two referees Rawle Toney and Sherwin Henry for an
International Basketball Federation (FIBA) certification programme in the Cayman Islands. Henry succeeded, and is currently the only FIBA certified referee in Guyana.
In the last quarter, the federation also bounced off its Schools’ Exchange Programme among St. Stanislaus College, Bishop’s High School and President’s College. It was the federation’s method of ensuring basketball is played under its watch at all levels.
Meanwhile, while basketball in Georgetown was proliferated at an impressive rate with Michael Singh wrapping up his first term at Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) Head, the same cannot be said for Linden.
In Georgetown, Singh completed Division I, II and III tournaments in 2014, including the GABA Trifecta Tournament that had all three Divisions playing at once; there was an Inter-Corporation, Pepsi Sonics Under-23, Pepsi Sonics U-14 Academy and Phillip George Legacy tournament also played in Georgetown.
Comparatively, in the other largest basketball-playing community, Linden’s Amateur Basketball Association (LABA), Victory Valley Royals held their annual schools’ tournament and their 20th Anniversary competition and BOSAI had an Inter-Department event.
The Linden sub-association is yet to host a tournament for 2014. The LABA President, Haslyn Graham has been engaged in work commitments, leaving his Secretary, Joseph Chapman to run amok with the affairs of the Linden sub-association.
In Berbice, the GABF provided support for Vibert Garret, who hosted an Anamayah Memorial Division I and Legend Division I competitions. Garret has also received the support of GABF to host an upcoming Banks DIH Division I Championships.
The GABF also provided sanction for Sports Management Inc. Mecca to McKenzie, which was a return fixture to Linden for the Final Four of the National Club Championships; Mackeson’s 3×3 Basketball Championships also received GABF sanction.
Most notably, the federation nominated and supported Patrick Haynes, who was elected to FIBA Management Committee. The election of the Guyanese was a landmark achievement that augurs well for the development of basketball in Guyana.
Challenges
The first major challenge for the new GABF administration emerged in them trying to sources all the funds to send full teams to the CBC Championships in Tortola. The federation still managed to send the teams without support from the Government and other major stakeholders despite the Office of the President contribution.
The GABF was forced to literally fight with Director of Sport, Neil Kumar for practice time for a national team at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. This writer joined the call to Kumar in an article to stop using the Sports Hall as if it is his own facility.
The male national team then faced a roster problem in Tortola when Gordon Klaiber was deemed ineligible after travelling from Japan to join the team. The CBC was of the view that Klaiber did not claim his nationality before its stipulated age limit. The GABF fought the caveat at the FIBA level and won after proving the rule cannot apply to a Guyana-born player.
More controversy erupted in Tortola when several senior players defied an edict from the team’s management to return the team uniforms. Those players were subsequently fined and banned, but several of them have since returned the uniforms or paid their fines.
The authority of the federation was flouted when Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) refused to get the necessary sanction to run its programmes. The Kumar-backed YBG continues to believe that it does not require the requisite sanction from the GABF to run its programmes. The GABF is the governing body for all basketball in Guyana.
Finally, the federation bemoaned the lack of recognition at a Guyana Olympic Association award ceremony in December for what it called an “exemplary year”. “It does appear to be some major oversight on the part of the GOA to not recognize the efforts of the GABF, as is done for Netball and Hockey among others,” the federation said in a statement.
Early 2015 Projections
The GABF has registered Guyana’s male and female teams to participate in the 2015 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), paying the requisite US$1000 per team as a result ensuring participation.
The Federation will also host Road to Mecca II early in 2015 as a means of selecting the national team that will play Bermuda and the Washington D.C Jammers in Guyana in March. The robust first quarter of 2015 is geared toward preparing the national teams for CBC in hope that Guyana can improve its overall performance.
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