BRIDGETOWN, CMC – President of the Barbados Basketball Association Francis Williams said the senior men’s national team had started preparations towards making a return to hemispheric competition after a near five-year break.
Williams indicated that the squad started heightened preparations this past week under head coach Devan Blair for the FIBA AmeriCup 2025 pre-qualifiers to be held from June 22 to 25 in Valdivia, Chile.
“National team activity is one of the factors that usually drives the interest in the sport, so getting this opportunity for our players after such a long break is a huge relief,” Williams said in a news release on Saturday.
The Barbadians were selected based on their Caribbean and world ranking because there have been no recent regional tournaments.
Barbados will be grouped with Ecuador, Paraguay, and hosts Chile, and the top two teams from this group, along with the top two from a second group playing in Nicaragua will advance to the qualifying round in February 2024.
In the second group, Antigua & Barbuda, Cuba, United States Virgin Islands, and hosts Nicaragua are playing for the two spots.
The tournament is also a qualifier for the 2026 CAC Games and the 2027 Pan Am Games.
Williams said the BABA were grateful for the opportunity, but it had presented a few challenges to pull together.
“This trip will be a substantial undertaking financially with airfare being astronomically high,” he said.
“Luckily, we have received some assistance from the National Sports Council and feel positive that we will get further support from the other funding agencies, but we are at a very critical point as seats are quickly becoming limited.”
“Another hurdle was the team’s inability to practice indoors as both indoor facilities (in the island) were active exam centres for the entire month of May, and this limited preparation to conditioning and fitness.”
The two indoor facilities are the gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex and the Barbados Community College, both on the outskirts of the island’s capital.
