The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the fifth consecutive year, the Providence Basketball Club is all set to host the Phil Smith Primary School Basketball Challenge.

The event, which is being held in memory of the late ZNS sportscaster, is scheduled to begin at the CI Gibson Gym on Monday with a total of 14 teams competing in four pools. The third place and championship games are set for Thursday.

“The objective is just to have these young boys playing basketball at a high level,” said club president Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson. “Not only that, we want to continue to honour Phil Smith because he was a great sportsman who always enjoyed sports. So we just want to keep his memory alive by continuing to hold the tournament in his honour.”

The defending champions Our Lady’s Blue Flames will head pool one along with the Queen’s College Comets A and Genesis Academy.

In pool two are the new Bahamas Scholastic Schools Association’s champions Carlton E Francis, John’s Giants B and Christian Heritage. Blairwood Academy, St John’s A, the Kingsway Academy Saints and the Temple Christian Suns, one of the top primary schools in the country, will make up pool three.

And in pool four are Queen’s College B, Hillcrest, St Bede’s Crushers and Teleos.

“We have some very talented teams in this year’s tournament,” Johnson said. “We have St Bede’s, who are always a good team, Our Lady’s, who won last year, TC, whose coach (Keno Demeritte) is always working with them, Carlton Smith with Sherman Smith, who is doing a good job with them. These primary schools really work hard as they try to take the game to another level. I think the competition is going to be great and I think the best team will win.”

Johnson, whose CI Gibson Rattlers fell short in the semifinals of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic, said the primary school teams need more tournaments like the Phil Smith Challenge to motivate the young players.

“That’s where the future of basketball is, with the young players,” he said. “If we let it die, we have a very dim future. So this is my contribution in trying to keep the future at this level alive and hopefully this is something that these young players look forward to as we also honour Phil Smith by keeping his memory alive.”

Since the inception of the tournament, Johnson said the majority of the players look forward to playing because they have developed a lot of friendships and they also get to compete for some impressive awards that are presented to the championship, runners-up and third place finishers, all-tournament teams, assists, steals, rebounds, scoring and blocked shots, which encourage them to play their best.

“I’m looking forward to this year’s tournament and I know the players are looking forward to it too,” Johnson stated. “We’re going to have a good time in the gym next week.”

The action is slated to get started at 3:45pm Monday with the following games:

Queen’s College A

vs Genesis

Blairwood Academy

vs Kingsway Academy

Christian Heritage

vs St John’s B

Queen’s College B

vs Hillcrest

St John’s

vs Temple Christian

Teleos vs St Bede’s