The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FOR the second consecutive year, one junior high school plans to give young basketball players an early headstart on an eagerly anticipated upcoming season.

The LW Young Junior High School is scheduled to host its second annual invitational tournament at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium November 8-9.

The tournament is expected to feature 12 teams throughout the GSSSA, BAISS and BSA including the hosts Kingsway Academy, DW Davis, Temple Christian, CH Reeves, CW Saunders, TA Thompson, SC McPherson, St John’s, Mt Carmel, Teleos and HO Nash.

Today, the tournament is slated to run between 3-9pm, and noon to 9pm Friday. There is a registration fee.

The TA Thompson Scorpions won the inaugural championship in the boys’ division led by MVP point guard Michael Bethel.

Bethel scored 13 of his game high 15 points in the second half to earn MVP honours and lead the Scorpions in a come-from-behind victory over the Queens College Comets 40-35.

In the girls’ championship game, the Teleos Academy Cherubims defeated The Kingsway Academy Saints 36-15.

Anthonique Bethel was named the MVP.

LW Young tournament organisers said the main objective of the event is to provide junior players with an opportunity to display their skills and for coaches to assess their performance in a competitive arena leading up to the GSSSA basketball season, according to a press release.

At the climax of last year’s tournament, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Evon Wisdom, administrator in the Sports Unit, applauded LW Young for its initiative and challenged all schools to reach out to international sporting organisations to put on future events similar to this.

He stated that the ministry wants to assist schools in organising invitational tournaments where international junior high school teams can participate in competitive sports while on vacation in the Bahamas.

LW Young marked its place in Bahamian basketball history as the first Hugh Campbell Championship winner in 1982.

Some of the schools” outstanding former sports alumni are Frank Rutherford, the first Bahamian track and field Olympic medallist and Pauline Davis-Thompson, an Olympic gold medal winner and one of the Bahamas’ “Golden Girls”.