Alex Graham, Manager of the Guyana under-15 team that recently participated in the 2016 FIBA Centrobasket Under-15 Championship in Puerto Rico, says Guyana cannot develop by playing against itself.
That sentiment came in the wake of Guyana’s lackluster performance at its most recent international outing where the team lost all of their games. According to the manager the team cannot develop by playing itself, there must be exposure to know what level the team stands at.
Guyana was in group B at the under-15 tournament and had to compete with Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic and Panama. They lost all of their games to finish in the cellar position in the group. Dominican Republic and Panama were the two teams to exit group B. Dominican Republic made it to the finals but lost to host Puerto Rico while Mexico came in third.
Guyana Under-15 basketball team along with Coach Lugard Mohan (second from right and Manager Alex Graham (extreme right)
Judging from the other teams’ performance, Graham said Guyana has some distance to cover to be on par with their opponents. Nevertheless he is grateful that the youngsters got the exposure to participate so they themselves could return and work on their individual game.
When questioned about the approach to better the team’s performance for the future, Graham was quick to point in the direction of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and the government, who he believes should discuss ideas to come up with a solution.
Despite their poor display Guyana’s Jermaine King finished as one of the tournament top three players and top rebounder with an average of 11 rebounds per game. But even King’s lone incredible feat was not enough to save Guyana from losing all their matches.
Prior to the championship there were trials to make the team and from those trials 12 players were selected and encamped. During that camp they worked on several aspects of their game.
