By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
ALL of the hard work and persistence paid off for Freedom Baptist Academy as they celebrated another banner year for their Warriors boys and girls basketball teams.
The administration and staff held a special ceremony yesterday at the school on Mount Royal Avenue.
Their primary boys won the Temple Christian Academy Basketball Tournament, the J-Ballers Thanksgiving Tournament, were runners-up in the Fr Marcian Peters Invitational and kept the title at home in the Freedom Baptist Academy Majority Rule Tournament before they wrapped up their season with a win in the Gladstone ‘Moon’ McPhee/Cecil Thompson Tournament.
As for their junior girls team, the Warriors pulled off a triple crown, taking the Giants Christmas Classic hosted by the Providence Basketball Club over the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine, they won their own Majority Rule Tournament over the DW Davis Royals and the Bahamas Scholastic Athletic Association school league over the St John’s Giants.
The only title that got away from the Warriors was the Gladstone McPhee/Cecil Thompson Tournament in Grand Bahama where they finished third.
“Over the year, they did good. We practiced a lot and once the season started, it all came down to execution,” Major said. “We only returned two of our starters from last year, so winning those championships in the junior girls division was very sweet.”
As for the junior boys, Major said he couldn’t ask for a better performance as they went 29-3 in tournament and league play.
Between the primary and junior boys and primary and junior girls, Freedom Baptist captured a total of eight championship titles.
No one was more proud of their performances than principal Vincent Major.
“I’m extremely proud and excited for these young people because not only are they doing well on the athletic field, but they are doing well in academics,” he said. “We had 15 of our players make the honour roll for this school year, so we are excited about that, going into their exams for the final semester.
“When you think of a school with less than 50 students and going against schools with hundreds of students and we end up in the finals and winning titles in the primary and junior boys and girls divisions, we are very excited for them. We believe that the sky is the limit for them.”
Major said his son, head coach Ziah Major, is ensuring that all the players who are not keeping their grades up to at least a 2.5 average, they will not be allowed to play.
“They know that is an incentive for them to continue to play and to do well academically, so we thank God for that,” principal Major said. “What we accomplished this year is really outstanding.
“Sometimes we only travel with five or six on the team and playing games after games and playing all of those schools in Nassau and Grand Bahama has given them a lot of exposure.”
Junior girls most valuable player Shanika Darius, the 13-year-old eighth grader, said they worked very hard for everything they got.
“We worked hard and we prayed to God to let us win,” Darius said. “But we know that if you have attitude, you won’t win, so we had to play with a lot of pride.”
Darius said she enjoyed winning all three of their tournaments and if they can “continue to work hard,” the Warriors can come back and duplicate the feat next year.
Caleb Russell, the junior boys’ MVP, said it was a good feeling to achieve what they did.
“Hard work got us the win. We just have to work harder again next year to do it again,” said Russell, who is 12 years old and in the sixth grade, and felt like he is the “hardest” player on their team.
Former junior girls MVP Weddalinnesi Alexis just moved up to the senior girls’ division.
The 16-year-old 10th grader said next year they hope that their senior girls will get some time to shine in the spotlight.
“The juniors shocked me. I didn’t think they would have done as well as they did with me,” Alexis said.
“I feel like next year, we will get harder and dominate a lot more,” she stated.
Like their primary and junior teams, Alexis said hard work and a lot of practice will be the key to their success.
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