– women’s basketball given spark to ignite the game locally
In the end it was mission accomplished for coach Larry Davis and his South Carolina Lady All Star basketball team.
So said Davis, who told Stabroek Sport that he believed that the team achieved what it set out to do prior to their visit to Guyana.
Davis said that the spark needed to ignite the flame of women’s basketball in Guyana had been lit and advocated that females be brought into the sport from the school system.
The South Carolina Lady All Star team blew out two Guyana representative teams by considerable margins in two matches played at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall but Davis told Stabroek Sport prior to the team’s departure on Monday that winning by big margins was definitely not the objective.
“You know like I said, us coming here was not to win all of our games but to just give the local ladies a chance to play against some of the girls who have been there before and also bring a sort of change that would benefit the ladies after we’re gone.
“As it relates to the games I think they put up a heck of a fight but these girls (SC ladies) they play basketball everyday,” Davis added.
“I saw some ladies that have it, but it’s just raw. You can see clearly that not much time is given to these ladies, so that makes it a bit easy for them to get better because once you have a coach who is working with them and they play a bit more often then they can be a force to reckon with down to the road. But it all starts with the coach.” He said.
The US-based coach made a strong call on the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), the government and other stake holders in the sport to vigorously pursue having the sport revamped from the school system.
“One of the things most of these ladies were lacking is the basics of the game, the fundamentals. So women’s basketball should start back in the schools.
“That’s what made these ladies coming here important because they see how technically sound they are and so to match up, they would be encourage to work hard, because coaches, they don’t teach fundamentals, its something that you have to work on,” Davis noted.
Davis is of the opinion that much more emphasis is being paid to male basketball in Guyana.
“This shouldn’t be. It should be across the board. In Guyana I saw how much time was put into the men’s team but what happens to the ladies?
“It’s like in the US, what goes for the men, the ladies they are entitled to the same thing. So I think more time and effort should go to the girls.”
Apart from the two games against Guyana’s females, Davis held several clinics in Linden and Georgetown for coaches and players alike.
He said that while he enjoyed his stay in the Garden City, it was his journey to the mining town that was really interactive and he lauded the players and coaches who turned out at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground last Sunday.
“Well Linden was great!. The guys, they really came out and were very into what was going on. Not only did the coaches participate, some of the players asked a bunch of questions and that I like, because I see that they wanted to learn and grab every little thing that they had.
“So I left a few hand outs and so on and when I get back, I’ll set up a little DVD for coaches and players with drills and so on that can you know, help them out a bit,” he informed.
The SC ladies too relished their first time in Guyana saying that they believed that they made an impact on the local ladies and promised to return next year.
