Primary goal was to gain experience

— Alex Graham, manager of U15 basketball team to CentroBasket c/ships defends decision of team to participate after lopsided defeats

Despite suffering heavy losses in their CentroBasket U15 championships in Puerto Rico, Manager of the Guyana team Alex Graham, said the event achieved its main objective due to the international exposure acquired.

Guyana concluded the championships with a 0-4 record suffering losses by more than 60 points in all but one encounter. Guyana lost to Panama 24-101, before losing 12-118, 60-107 and 24-115 to the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica respectively.

In an invited comment, Graham, when asked about the performance of the team said: “The primary goal we set for the U15s participating was to gain experience and exposure as we prepare this batch for the next two cycles that we achieved.

“We were expecting slightly better performances despite the circumstances but we are satisfied that the boys worked really hard at their preparation. Every other team was more experienced and better prepared than we were and yet we were will able to have one of our players as a top performer in the event which was Jermaine King who led the event in rebounding with 11 per match,” he added.

Alex Graham
Alex Graham

Quizzed on the importance of these events as a vehicle for development, Graham declared:

“These are critically important, the U15 players you are seeing now playing in Latin America are the ones that will be playing in the two Olympics and three World Championships and will be dominating basketball so it is important to get our players exposed to them now.”

He said that the quality of the local players was not going to improve without exposure to better opposition, noting that nothing can be done at home which would raise our overall abilities compared to international competitions.

Asked if the results justified the finances incurred to make the trip a reality he said: “We have to invest in them to make them better. I have no regrets on the money and time invested in them. If Guyana wants to make a name, these are the players who played Centro and CBC that we have invest in so they can lead the way.”

According to Graham, in order to compete and win at this level, you have to be able to compete at this stage and that this event is the second international event participated in by a youth Guyanese team.

“It says the programme has some depth to it. All we can do is expect considerably better performances over the next four years. What we are doing now is setting the foundation for the next Olympic cycle, if we look at the cost alone then we won’t go,” he added.