The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN its inaugural edition, the Top 50 basketball camp paid immediate dividends for several of its participants as they earned scholarship opportunities to continue their athletic and educational careers in the United States.

The scholarship offers ranged from high school to junior colleges, to NAIA, NCAA Division II institutions.

Arguably the top performer at the camp, Stephen Strachan will transfer to Moberly Area Community College in Missouri. He will join the Greyhounds after he spent his true freshman season with the Faulkner University Eagles in Montgomery, Alabama.

Strachan, a sharpshooting 6’3” guard, led the Eagles in scoring at 12.9 points per game and shot 42 per cent from the field.

Samson Cleare, a 6’7” forward, earned an opportunity with the Cumberland University Bulldogs. He spent last season with Catawba Valley Community College, where he averaged 10.8 points and nine rebounds per game.

At the high school level, both Travis Barnett, a 6’1” guard and Kevin Cooper, a 6’ 7” forward, will attend Texas Christian School in Houston, Texas.

The graduated/unattached group produced the largest number of beneficiaries with seven players earning an opportunity with NCAA Division II Lindenwood University.

The Eagles have expressed interest in Kenrico Lockhart, Audie Kerr, Sanchez Moss, Yori Charlton, David Capron, Timothy Newbold and Livingston Munnings based on their performances at the camp.

The Bahamas Basketball Federation, Bahamas Global Sports Foundation, CSA Basketball Academy and iOWNpr hosted the the camp in conjunction with the International Coaches Clinic.

CSA basketball director Marvin Henfield said the true measure of the camp’s success is that the organisation is able to publish the names of the players that have received opportunities through the process.

“One of the things I want to do with this event is I want to be able to archive our success and the kids’ success. I know a lot of organisations and events say they send kids off, but we want to make known and we want to make public through the media, through the website and these other outlets, the names of these individuals.”

With the success of its inaugural edition, Henfield said the group is already looking forward to improvements for the 2015 edition.“We want to continue to expand on the length and magnitude of the top 50. Next year Trinidad has already committed to sending their top four prospects, which is incredible,” he said.

“We are not trying to re-invent the wheel, we just need to duplicate. We are not trying to change the game here in the Bahamas, what we want to do is raise the standard. Not just in presentation, but also in the opportunities for our kids to go abroad and receive an education.”

Several visiting coaches walked away from the event excited about the opportunities the players gained from the showcase.

Veteran NCAA division I head coach Ronnie Arrow most recently served as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University but is most well known for his over 30 years of head coaching experience at San Jacinto Community College, Texas A and M Corpus Christi and two stints with South Alabama.

Arrow, familiar with Bahamian basketball talent after he recruited one of the country’s 40 greatest players of all time, said the rankings system of the top 50 camp were beneficial to the recruiting process.

“The system, they did a great job with that. It was a first-class report and hopefully the organisers will be able to get these out to Division I, Division II and Division III coaches, then more and more scouts and coaches will be here next year. The talent is here. Parents, ex-players, anybody that is interested in basketball, you owe it to this country, you owe it to these young kids to get out and support these kids because you have some major talent here,” he said.“This is my third year in a row back down here, undoubtedly, ever since I recruited Craig Walkine ‘The Magician’ I have known the talent is down here. I think more and more people need to be getting involved in helping to develop these young kids. There are other Lynden Roses out there. There are other Mychal Thompsons out there.”

Arrow said he was impressed with the talent level of the camp’s youngest participants.

“Some of the best talent that I saw in this group was the young talent. I’m talking about seventh graders, eighth graders, I saw a backcourt that is going to be unbelievable when they get older,” he said. “In this camp we stressed academics, I told them when I was a coach in division I, I couldn’t tell them enough times how many kids I had to turn down because they didn’t have their grades. So the grades go hand in hand with basketball and keeping out of trouble.”

Jerrod Rucker, director of the Basketball Factory in Baltimore, Maryland, and coach of the Under-17 Baltimore Nike Elite AAU team, said the Bahamas is home to a plethora of undeveloped basketball talent.

“The Bahamas is a hidden gem. This is the first time I have been over here and I think these kids are so athletic and talented, they just need to be pushed on a daily basis,” he said. “I saw several players with the ability to make the transition. The younger division, those kids are really talented, they just lack strength. As many kids as we can help we will try to do so.”

The breakdown at the camp included the top 10 players between grades 7-9, the top 20 players in grades 10-12 and the top 20 players who have graduated high school or currently attend a junior college.