Under-18 b-ball squad to be cut to 12

Coach Lennox Sobers yesterday told Newsday that the team was only recently reduced to 16 players and they will have to go down a notch further with the basketball championship almost upon them.

The team will be cut to 12 before it goes into a live-in camp at the El Dorado Youth Camp on Friday, where the players will stay until the start of the competition.

The coach expressed the view that his players can certainly do with a little more financial support, such as a stipend to assist them pay their way to and from training sessions.

Sobers said further, the players have been dependent on their parents and guardians to dig into their pockets for money for them to attend practice sessions at the Eastern Regional Indoor Sports Arena, Tacarigua.

Should the players be given a stipend, Sobers says it will also assist them with their personal upkeep.

He also expressed dissatisfaction with the team’s lack of training uniforms, which is unlike many other national teams.

He made it clear that the team has been hard at training and the players are committed to the task ahead of them, come July 2-9.

Sobers also expressed the view that the team could have been way ahead of where they are at present in terms of readiness for the tournament.

He said further that a series of outings were planned to give the players some much-needed experience but it all failed to come through because of lack of funds.

He said plans were for the team, as part of the teams preparations, to go to St Vincent and the Grenadines as well as Barbados where the team would have played a series of warm-up matches in the countries.

Only recently the Vincentians made a visit to our shores on a goodwill trip in which they defeated the national team in a friendly match.

Sobers said such a trip usually helps players garner the experience that is necessary. Despite the setbacks, however, the basketball coach expressed confidence in the team, saying that it’s not so much who the team plays against but what and how they play that will determine the outcome in their matches at the tournament.

Only recently there were concerns that the team lacked experience.

Newsday also learnt that there were major concerns over the height of the players going up against teams that are likely to hold a big advantage in the competition with taller players.

Sobers reiterated his confidence in the players saying they have been really working hard at their game and will benefit from it at the tournament.