The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

COACH Wayde Watson said his Cybots basketball club is eager to stage its 11th annual Primary Youth Community Development basketball programme’s Thanksgiving tourney.

This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday, November 23 at the CI Gibson Gymnasium for primary school boys and girls between the ages of 10-12.

“We expect the same type of participation that we had in the past,” said Watson of the tournament that has a mixture of teams from both the public and private schools.

“We always attract some of the top teams on the island and we look forward to having the same calibre of teams participating this year.”

The Carlton E Francis Rockets are the defending boys’ champions and the Temple Christian Suns are the girls’ champions. Both teams have already gotten the year off on the right note, having won the respective titles in the Temple Christian Academy tournament last month.

Watson said the tournament serves as a pre-season showdown for the school teams as they prepare for the Catholic Diocesan Primary Schools Basketball and New Providence Primary Schools Sports Association basketball leagues, which are both slated to start at the end of the month.

“We have a number of schools which have expressed an interest in participating, including St Andrew’s Hurricanes, who will be competing in the tournament for the first time this year,” Watson said. “So we anticipate that we will have some real good competition this year.”

The tournment will use a double elimination format or pool play, depending on the amount of teams registered. All games will be played for six minutes each quarter.

All FIBA rules, as it pertains to mini-basketball, will be administered. Trophies and individual awards will be presented to the winners and second place teams.

But, if the funding allows, Watson said they are looking at the possibility of providing championship rings to the winners, which will have to be presented to the winning teams next year.

Teams interested in participating have until Friday, November 15 to register by contacting Watson at 376-0083 or 424-8380, Simone Beneby at 434-1292 or Sean Bastian at 427-9594.