3×3 Tournament is preparation for international competition – Slater

Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) President Jermaine Slater has said the second Guyana Basketball Federation (GBF) Women’s National 3×3 Basketball Championship, which concluded on Saturday at the National Gymnasium, had a significant influence on women’s basketball.
The Kwakwani Untouchables clinched that title over a dominant Lady Trojans in a nail-biting final which had a scoreline reading 7-2.
Speaking to media representatives, Slater said ongoing competitions would help GABA with their goal of fielding a national team for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) America Cup.
“Well, any athlete in any sport would normally benefit from repetition and some court hours, right? Just like running, just like football, same thing for basketball. So, this tournament is just one of four. This is the second one of four we’re doing for the year. We have two more planned, and we may do a fifth one. It’s all in preparation for the females. Hopefully, we get to enter them into the national tournament next year, the FIBA America Cup,” he disclosed. “So, this is a stepping stone for them right now, to be prepared. So, we’ll benefit from it.”

Slater added, “Speaking about some international tournaments, hosting tournaments is something that could get more closing and so on.”
He went on to expound on the GABA’s plans to give players international exposure shortly by explaining, “We have something in the works for 3×3 format also, where you may get to see at least 8 to 10 Caribbean countries coming to Guyana a bit later this year or next year. Also, there’s a tri-nation series for regular basketball, 5v5, that may include Trinidad and Suriname. So, that is a big part of development for our players: getting to play against their international counterparts, getting to measure themselves against them, and then we’ll know what work we need to do in our local level.”
Slater also disclosed key elements that participants should take away from the tournament towards their individual development when he shared, “I would tell them that they need to learn from their mistakes in these tournaments. They need to see where they went wrong and what caused them the games, and to work on it on an individual level. Most of the great players in any sport, when you’re sleeping or when you don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors, they’re working. They need to take stock of what they did here, understand their weaknesses, and work on it on a personal level.”
The GBF Women’s National Basketball Championship saw the participation of five teams – Lady Trojans, Queen B’s, Kwakwani Untouchables, Shooting Stars, and Georgetown – as they displayed their talents with the ball in hand.