Manager of the Guyana U17 basketball team, Andrew Junior Hercules said the focus of yesterday’s opening trial session was to assess the physical conditioning of the provisional Centro Basket roster.
Speaking at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Homestretch Avenue, Hercules said, “Essentially the focus, of this morning’s practice is on conditioning to see where our national athletes are. So for the first session of the day, the primary focus is on conditioning.”
The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) shortlisted a provisional 21-member squad for the Centro Basket U17 championships in the Dominican Republic from July 26th-30th.
Guyana qualified for the tournament following their second place finish at the CBC U17 championships in July 2016, going down to The Bahamas 57-84 at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
“From the outlook some of our athletes look winded so naturally that is an area of focus. We don’t want to be taking any of our athletes out of the country who are not prepared physically, we will monitor it and this afternoon [yesterday evening] session, hopefully we can have some more individual focus whether it’s on shooting, laying up and so forth. But the first session is primarily on conditioning and that will carry through for the duration of the trial and into the shortlisted players,” said Hercules.
“Tomorrow [Today] we should have an idea as to where we are so I think our focus will be on seeing where the chemistry lies, probably a combination of fitness again and to see who can do what especially for the players who were not part of the original list from last year. With putting them into sets, we should be able to determine who can do what,” he added.
The trials will conclude today at the same venue. Morning sessions are set to commence at 8:00am and conclude at 10:00am, with afternoon sessions running from 2:00pm-4:00pm.
The shortlisted squad reads: Yannick Tappin (Linden), Leon Benjamin (Linden), Shamar France (Berbice), Kelmar Carmichael (Berbice), Garfield Benjamin (Berbice), Akeem Crandon (Berbice), Jermaine King (Berbice), Kareem Boyle (Berbice), Jeremy Campbell (Berbice), Andrew Johnson (Georgetown), Nigel Bowen (Georgetown), Roydon Glasgow (Georgetown), Jahleel Young (Georgetown), Zion Gray (Georgetown), Denzil Ross (Georgetown), Jether Harris (Georgetown), Anthony Yansin (Georgetown), Jordan Alphonso (Berbice-USA Based), Kevon Wiggins (Berbice – USA Based), Kadeem Dover (Kwakwani) and Isaiah Hintzen (Kwakwani).
The selection process is also open to individuals not shortlisted following the recommendation of any affiliated coach or representative of the affiliates of the GABF.
Lugard Mohan is the Head-Coach while Kenny Avent (USA Based) and Willon Cameron are his Assistant Coaches.
Upon the completion of the trial period, training sessions will be staged from June 17th-July 10th. An encampment period is scheduled for July 14th-24th.
Guyana will depart for the Dominican Republic on July 25. They will return to local shores on Monday July 31.
