The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

ANOTHER semester of CSA Basketball Academy is set to tip off this weekend.

The weekly, developmental basketball academy is described by its director Marvin Henfield as a faith-based, non-profit organisation that teaches basketball fundamentals and life skills to young men and women between the ages of five and 18.

The fall semester runs on Saturdays at the Anatol Rodgers Gymnasium from September 23 to December 9.

“I thought we needed something more sustainable, more year round. For us to really get the measure of success required to develop world-class athletes we are going to have to get to the point at the programmes in every sport that are more sustainable in their development and their teaching, so it is going to take more than a summer camp, it will take more than a season.

“If you are only training for three months or six months out of the year it’s not sufficient. Even nine months of what we do is not sustainable and even at nine months we still can’t develop world-class athletes. We have to get to the point where it’s 12 months,” said Henfield on ZSR 103.5’s The Sports Guy with Marcellas Hall.

“Our objective is simple. We see things we want to achieve through our mission. The first is to instill life changing principles and the word of God in the athletes that we train and mentor, the second is to develop their God given talents in the game of basketball and thirdly to give those athletes access to a college education. I simply say to parents – we are not a babysitting programme, we are a programme that is very intent and goal oriented, we know what our out is and our out is for kids to access a college education.”

After being hosted at Remnant Tabernacle the past few years, CSA relocated to Anatol Rodgers, a task Henfield said proved arduous, but beneficial in the long run

He added that it is the mission of the academy to continue to improve the process, including using technological advancements to build a better relationship with parents and athletes.

“The best apart about what we do is that our programme is a skill development programme. Our goal is to build a foundation. Most of the kids who come to us and the kids that we enjoy working with are kids that have never played basketball or that are not on teams. Our programme, unlike many others we don’t recruit the best players, in fact I don’t want the best players. It’s hard to fill a barrel that is already full. We are fortunate that our programme has grown and we can have over 300 kids that we can facilitate at the Anatol Rodgers gym,” Henfield said.

According to its website, www.mycsabasketball.com since August 2009 through January 2015 - CSA has trained, mentored and ministered to more than 2,800 athletes throughout the country.

The Junior Academy features ages 5-12 and the Senior Academy features ages 13-19.

The 12 week course comes at a cost of $375 for new athletes and $225 for returning athletes. New athletes can register at mycsabasketball.com or email Coach Henfield at marvin@mycsabasketball.com or domonique@csabasketball.com.