Home|Sports|Marvin Henfield’s ‘The Lab’ continues to growSports

Simba FrenchSend an emailDecember 12, 2022 89 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email

Looking to train young Bahamian basketball players, Marvin Henfield Basketball launched its training facility on Thompson Boulevard during the COVID-19 pandemic in November 2021, and just over a year later, the program is up and running and continue to grow.

Founder and lead instructor Marvin Henfield said that the first year has been exciting and he had to intensify training sessions.

“The first year just having to come out of COVID and go through that experience enabled us to be where we had to be – able to get through. All the protocols that we had with COVID and everything else that was happening here in the country was a challenge,” Henfield said. 

The indoor training facility that was officially opened on November 28, 2021, features two half-courts and nine rims. The facility known as “The Lab” works with kids from as young as three years old to adults. Henfield has worked with professional players as well as collegiate athletes. Over the past year, Henfield and his team started out with one class per week and now they are up to three classes per week, Monday through Friday. Saturday basketball features the younger kids from ages three to seven. 

Although they are known for shooting drills, Henfield said that they also work on other aspects of the game such as ball handling and passing.

“We’re a full-fledged basketball training facility,” Henfield said. “We specialize in shooting, but we also teach all the core skills. Kids can come in here and they can learn ball handling. They can learn how to pass. They can learn how to finish at the basket. We teach a lot of things in basketball – how to be able to come off screens, and how to penetrate and kick and other stuff. We’re a full-service basketball training facility.” 

Other than their after-school program, schools and night league teams have used the facility. 

“We have additional programs that we do where we rent spaces to other basketball clubs, some of the smaller school programs and then some of the night league teams. They also utilized our facility and then we also have private individual sessions that we do,” Henfield stated. 

Henfield is not surprised by the response that he has gotten over the year. He compared the sport to soccer in that everywhere there is an area where kids are playing. He knew that there was going to be a demand for a facility like his own where players can go and work on their skills.

Looking to expand and grow, Henfield is hoping to have a full court facility by the first quarter of 2023. He is hoping to have tournaments to provide games for juniors.

Henfield and his team have been able to offer virtual training sessions on their website, www.marvinhenfield.com.