- Simba French
- Dec 14, 2023
- 0
Some of the top high school basketball players in the United States of America (USA) are expected to grace the shores of New Providence, playing at the 2nd Hoopfest in Paradise at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium this Friday and Saturday. Showcasing their skills against them will be two select teams out of New Providence.
The announcement was made at the Four Walls Squash Club on Village Road yesterday. There will be a public school select team, and a private school select team, both out of New Providence. Coaching the private school select team is Dario Burrows while veteran coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson will coach the public schools select team. There are 10 teams that will be coming in for the showcase.
“I am excited about it and reached out to all the public schools so they can get their players to come out. This is a very good and talented team. We will compete and give a good showing for The Bahamas. We have been working hard, preparing as best as we can, and we will come out and do our best and win games,” Johnson said.
The public schools select team will be represented by Gerard Rolle, Tashon Butler, Dwayne Finley, Stevacko Jacques, Mario Rolle, McKell Alonzo, Dakulve Cumming, Emmanuel Adams, Sylvano Gibson, Daniel Bodie, Derrick Edgecombe and Condae Smith.
Burrows echoed the same
sentiments as Johnson when it comes to his team being competitive and having a good showing.
“You are going to see a group of young men who will be representing a brand. I have to commend the coaches because my job is easy. We are not trying to teach system at this point but principles. These kids are equipped so it was a seamless process leading them. We want to be a model to try and just sensitize the world to Bahamian basketball at the high school level,” Burrows said.
Making the private schools squad are Treymon Wright, Romail Strachan, Daquan Strachan, Raymone Woods, Nakero Brown, Ray Smith, Treyvon Clarke, Kayden Adderley, Michael Thompson, Dorien La-Roda, Jakayo Kemp and Joel Butler.
Glen Smith, owner of Hoopfest, said they expanded the showcase to include four of the top 10 girls teams in the US.https://f28011573bed6895f19f2eec1b2875b3.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
“We are expecting two days of high-level basketball. It is not only a chance for teams from America but two teams from The Bahamas to showcase their talent in front of college coaches as well as NBA (National Basketball Association) scouts. It will be an exciting time in The Bahamas. We are expecting a few former NBA players with former NBA player Jermaine O’Neal coaching one of the teams,” Smith said.
Making the trip back to The Bahamas is former Gateway Christian Academy guard out of Bimini Valdez ‘VJ’ Edgecombe. The ESPN five star player will be traveling with his Long Island Lutheran High School out of Long Island, New York.
“It was intentional to bring him (Edgecombe) as I was already bringing their girls’ team. Once I found out that he was from here and he found out that the event was from here, I reached out to him and we talked. His coach and I figured it out and they had a game scheduled for this weekend, but we were able to move some stuff around to bring him home,” Smith said.
The first day of hoops action gets underway at 12:30 tomorrow. Saturday’s action gets underway at 11 a.m.