– Akeem Kanhai stars in inaugural Guyana Basketball Magazine
Eighteen year-old basketball `wiz’ Akeem Kanhai has landed himself on the cover of a basketball magazine which is due out on January 1 in the United States of America.
The magazine, named “Guyana Basketball Year In Review” will be published by a media design company known as P2H2 and is being made possible through the Haynes Foundation; a non-profit organisation based in New Jersey and headed by Guyanese Paul and Patrick Haynes.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport yesterday, the brothers, who are strong advocates for the development of the sport in Guyana, declared that 2009 has been a break-out for the Amelia’s Ward Jets guard.
“We think if you look at the game in Guyana and any tournament this kid plays in, his names pops up in some way.
“It’s either he’s the MVP; or he gets some prize; or he is top scoring with admirable stats to compliment it; or he inspires his team.
“So, no matter how you put, he has been great this year and that’s why we chose him for the cover,” Paul Haynes said.
This year, Kanhai was named captain of the Inter Guiana Games (IGG) team.
The team competed in Suriname along with the hosts and French Guiana and came within a whisker of retaining the title losing by a mere two points to their Dutch-speaking opponents.
Kanhai won most, if not all of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards in tournaments this year.
He also excelled at the Caribbean Advance Proficiency (CAPE) examination.
“This kid has got some head on his shoulders because we keep in contact with his mom and we read a lot about him in the media and never have we gotten a bad report. He’s very intelligent and goes to church as well and we like the fact that he is very humble, you know, so he more than deserve being on the cover,” said Patrick Haynes.
“As it relates to him getting a basketball scholarship, he is way out of contention because he has played for money and other stuff down in Guyana and that’s a big no for the NCAA. But now he’s going to do the SAT’s and with a high score he can get an academic scholarship and be a walk-on on any school’s basketball team and play him self into college basketball,” the brothers said.
The Dream
When Stabroek Sport showed the 18 year-old a preview of the magazine cover, he froze for a while with a grin an overjoyed child would have before saying “What! This is things you only dream about boy.”
He added: “I feel elated, because like I said, this is something I only dream of and I feel like all my hard work; my training; my everything; is finally starting to pay off.
“I knew of being in the magazine through my mother, but seeing the cover live is so, you know – trust me, I feel proud.”
Kanhai confirmed that in January next year, he will be taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).
“Well yea, next year I’ll be taking the test. I have done a few of the test papers and it’s very easy. I think I will do well you know, but again, I feel happy.” Kanhai said.
Meanwhile, according to the Haynes brothers, the magazine will also take a look at the history of basketball in Guyana and the life of former President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Godwin McPherson who, after standing almost 19 years at the helm of the sport, passed away this year.
A special feature on the life of Schubert Cappel, who also passed away, will be in the magazine and the Haynes brothers said that it was basically to give recognition to a man who has done Guyana well in the sport both locally and overseas.
“Apart from that we have some stuff which may be controversial to some, mostly players since we have a part which shows the all-defensive and offensive players on a first and second team basis and trust me, when that gets out, plenty people would say they should have been there so we did it on a voting scale,” the brothers declared.
The Haynes brothers say the magazine will be an annual feature since not much is being done for them to produce it on a monthly basis.
