GABA ‘King of the Hard Court’ bounces off tonight

Apr 22, 2015 Sports

The inaugural tournament of the newly-elected Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) dubbed ‘King of the Hard Court’ bounces off tonight at Burnham Basketball Court from 6pm with Knights taking on Colts and Trinity Grid Holding (TGH) Pacesetters battling Patriots in the feature game.

GABA President, Junior Hercules (second, left) and a representative of GYNC, Tricia Teekah (third, right) among other GABA executives at yesterday’s launching of the ‘King of the Hard Court’ competition.

The tournament, which was launched yesterday in the Boardroom of Starr Computers, will be played at three venues: Burnham Court, National Gymnasium and Plaisance Basketball Court, in four weeks of basketball.
GABA President, Junior Hercules said that the tournament was initiated to herald an official hard court champion. To that effect, he said that Georgetown teams will be officially seeded following the completion of the tournament, which will have a break during Elections week.
There will be no monetary prize. The tournament will be held using the round-robin format with each team playing at least five games to accumulate points. Hercules said that with support from Ansa McAl, under their Mackeson brand, will be looking to develop the winning club through an assessment of its specific need.
“There will be no monetary prize per say for this tournament, but what we along with Ansa McAl want to do is develop the clubs by giving the winner of this tournament 10 Spalding balls and by looking at specific needs of that club in order to develop them,” Hercules said.
“We want to host three competitions throughout the year and the final one, which will be our League, will have cash incentives,” he added. Matches will be played every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with 12 participating teams.
The other teams confirmed for the tournament include Dyna’s Ravens, University of Guyana, Plaisance Guardians, Starr Computer Eagles, Pepsi Sonics, Republic Bank Nets and one team representing the West Demerara.
In addition, there will also be an Under-23 aspect of the tournament with teams playing at least four games apiece. Giftland OfficeMax and Starr Computers are the other sponsors of the GABA ‘King of the Hard Court’ outdoor basketball competition.
Meanwhile, with the country gearing for the May 11 Regional and General Elections, the GABA teamed up with the Guyana National Youth Council (GNYC) to help in their ‘Vote Like A Boss’ campaign, targeting young and first time voters to educate them on the voting process. (Edison Jefford)