The Tribune

AFTER the summer camp was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic, Terrance ‘Red Eye’ McSweeney and his Diamond Basketball Development will resume a Saturday training session for girls in honour of the late Jonique ‘Mini’ Webb.

Starting on Saturday and continuing through Saturday, December 10 at the Hope Center, under the theme: “Missed, but not forgotten,” McSweeney said he will conduct free lessons for female basketball players in the private and public schools between the ages of 5-11 years between the hours of 9am and noon.

“We know that the kids are staying at home trying to deal with the pandemic as best as they can,” McSweeney said. “They are not getting any basketball activities.

“I’ve already mentioned it to some of the schools, but I want to extend it to the public. We are outdoors at the Hope Center where we started the camp in July, but had to stop because of the protocols for the pandemic.”

After one week, the camp held in honour of Webb, a former camper, and the late coach Sherman Smith, McSweeney had to call off the Diamond Basketball Development Summer Camp because the Bahamas Government shut down all of the parks and sporting facilities to help curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

McSweeney said with the government reopening the parks, they have decided to resume their free Saturday morning training sessions where they will focus on some of the things they started to implement in the five-week camp.

“We thank God for giving us the opportunity to work with the few girls we had for the one week at the camp,” McSweeney said. “It helped me to see what we need to do once we resume on Saturday putting the protocols that need to be in place.”

He assured the public that once the players come to the Hope Center, they will go through the safety procedures and the social distancing on the benches and the equipment they will use as they go through the drills.

“Three hours for the first few Saturdays will allow the players to go through their ball-handling skills and then shooting,” he said. “The last few Saturdays in December will be geared towards putting the girls in groups in their various age brackets to play some games.”

During the week of May 10, 2021, McSweeney said Diamond Basketball Development also plans to host an all-girls jamboree to commemorate the 31st birthday of Webb, who died as a result of lupus on January 19.

“Through Diamond Basketball Development, this is a good way for the coaches to bring their girls out to see where they are going into the new school year,” said McSweeney about the Saturday training sessions.

“Jonique was an integral part of the Diamond Basketball Development from 1998 to 2006 when she attended Jordan Prince Williams where she also played on the Falcons basketball team and other sports teams,” according to McSweeney.