With the aim of defending their male basketball title, team Guyana have begun their preparation for the second stage of this year’s Inter Guiana Games which will be held in Suriname.
National coach Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan has been put at the helm of the squad by the National Sports Commission (NSC) which is responsible for organizing of the Guyana delegation.
Stabroek Sport caught up with Cadogan at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall yesterday where he was taking a few of the shortlisted players through some basic drills.
According to Cadogan, their focus right now is to build awareness in the players since only four players from last year’s unit will be rejoining the team this year.
He said even though they have shortlisted some players, they will be heading out New Amsterdam and Corentyne to unearth some of the hidden talent in those areas.
“At present we need more big men …most of the players we have are guards and forwards so we will be going to… Berbice to see what they got to offer us. It’s important because most of the times, we look at Linden and Georgetown so this time around we want to go out a bit,” Cadogan said.
He added that there is also a unit that is in training in Linden under the guidance of the national female coach and President of the Linden Basketball Association (LABA) Abdullah ‘Zico’ Hamid.
The IGG event is set for October.
Asked why preparations have started early, Cadogan said: “well we want to bring all the players together as time progresses for them to play together… Also once there is a tournament, we would be asking the organisors for us to field a team comprising some of those players so they will have enough playing time together.”
Cadogan who will overlook the entire preparation of the team on behalf of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and the NSC has introduced some new faces in their coaching staff. The addition of former junior national player Kester Gomes and Hezekiah Yisrael to the coaching line-up that also includes former national senior point guard Mark Agard is part of the effort to bring more people to front of coaching.
The national coach said he hopes the two young men would bring a different vision to the sport and also begin a process whereby they would encourage other young and former players to impart their knowledge.
Guyana did not have an opportunity to defend their title which was won when the final leg of the games was hosted here in 2007 because of a protest in French Guiana last year.
The ever improving and high school basketball star 17-year-old Akeem Kanhai of Linden is set to make his third appearance on the team and will join forces with Richard Mohandatt.
Suriname are the overall defending champions and hold a slim lead over Guyana who sit second behind them after the first leg that was hosted here in March.
In the final leg, the tree countries, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, will be competing in the fields of basketball, cycling and volleyball with each discipline comprising both male and female participation.