National Schools Basketball Festival returns after two years this Friday

Youth Basketball Guyana’s National Schools Basketball Festival finally returns after two years on Friday July 1, with the pre-season having concluded just last weekend.

Youth Basketball Guyana hosted a pre-season for the National Schools Basketball Festival as a warm-up for participating schools who lacked competitive play over recent years due to the pandemic.

Chris Bowman, Co-director at Youth Basketball Guyana said: “They were keen to play but they needed more time to really get their foot in right. They just didn’t have enough basketball for the past two years.”

In the girls competition, Queen’s College played unbeaten. Meanwhile, President’s College tied with Marian Academy on 6 points.

In the boys competition, Christ Church and President’s College were the top teams.

“And that’s why we have always had, as the lead up to the NSBF, we’ve always had the regional tournament which would have allowed teams right within their district or region to play enough games so that by the time they get to the festival they are beginning to peak, they are able to play at a level that best reflects their ability.”

Bowman noted that the teams displayed a lot of low point scoring in the warm-up matches. However, he is confident that these matches prepared them to perform better in the upcoming tournament.

“But hopefully, the pre-season helped to get some of the cobweb out and with the festival we’ll see a better quality of basketball. We expect to see a better quality of basketball because there is certainly talent, there’s enthusiasm, there’s enthusiasm, there’s excitement, there’s great anticipation. It’s going to be an exciting tournament so we are excited for that.”

Youth Basketball Guyana will tip-off its 15th National School Basketball Festival on July 1, with four games in the under-18 division from 14:00hrs at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

This year’s tournament will see 48 teams competing in three divisions for national titles of boys under 14-16, Girls 14-16, and boys under 18 over the course of 10 days.