YBG gearing to host Titan Bowl and Tertiary Knockout competition to close out 2022

…Seeking additional sponsorship to cross the finish line

By Timothy Jaikarran

The end of the year is almost here, and Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) are on par in terms of accomplishing what they had set out to achieve for the calendar year. According to YBG co-founder Chris Bowman, they are looking to end the year with a bang when they host the Titan Bowl, which is set to commence on December 8, 2022; and there is to be a Tertiary Knockout tournament to end the year.

In an interview with this publication, Bowman was asked what plans the YBG have for the year, and he responded as follows. “Well, it would be to end with the usual Titan Bowl competition that will be from December 8, 2022. It is a competition that will bring together the best nine schools in the U18 category in the country, so that should be very competitive.
“But what we will also do this year is that we will have simultaneously a Tertiary Knockout tournament. Earlier, we had the Tertiary league, and in December we will have the Exxonmobil Tertiary Knockout tournament as part of our earlier sponsorship arrangement with Exxon.”
He further related that the earlier version of the Tertiary tournament was highly successful, and he opined that the Knockout tournament would be another way of keeping the tertiary players active. Bowman clarified that, every school year, new players would enter the tertiary system while some would graduate. he noted that this gives the tertiary system a chance to recalibrate and reorganise.
“Strategically, that kind of tournament is well placed, and can really be useful for the tertiary schools. So, that and Titan Bowl, we are going to end the year with those two tournaments. Of course, funding continues to be a challenge since our restart, and as disclosed, had it not been for G-Boat, who fuelled us for much of the restart, and getting our organizational systems back on track, and Exxon Mobil who are responsible for the National School Basketball Festival…not to minimize the value of the National Sports Commission and Edward B Beharry, but outside of those, it really has been a struggle,” Bowman shared.
Bowman noted that the YBG continue to run their programme on a shoestring-type of budget, and coming down to the closing of the year, it would require them to reach out to more sponsors to aid them cross over the finish line, so that youth basketball and grassroots basketball can have a good end-of-year showing.