Today’s Honouring Women’s Month profile is on FIBA Certified Referee Bobeth O’Garro.O’Garro is the second female CIBA Referee in the Cayman Islands but first FIBA certified.
She has been refereeing for a total of 13 years and FIBA Certified for 10 years. Apart from refereeing locally, O’Garro has also taken her talents internationally where she has travelled the world doing what she loves.This includes:-The Women’s Caribbean Championships in Bahamas 2011;-U16 Women’s FIBA Americas/Pre-Olympic Qualifiers in Mexico 2015 and U18 Women at Puerto Rico in 2012, refereeing the Gold medal game USA vs. Brazil;-In 2013 O’Garro was invited to the U19 Women’s World Championships in Lithuania, CENTROBASKET u15 Boys in Panama 2014 and U18 Girls in Puerto Rico 2011;-Caribbean Cup Men and Women in Suriname 2018.
O’Garro says, “thank you to Former Senior Official Edward “PROUDY” Ebanks and Former CIBA Vice President Courtney Wisdom for encouraging me to become the referee that I am today and a special thank you to CIBA for supporting my nominations.”(Cayman’s 1st female Referee was Zena Davis.)
Cayman’s national women’s team defeated Guernsey in a grueling 5th place match. Both teams have similar styles of play with similar player compositions, which makes them more evenly matched. However, Cayman was able to overcome their opponents through heart and determination, sustaining runs and stifling defensive effort.
Hailing from the Cayman Islands,
Kai Robinson is a local product making his mark in the U.S. at the High School
level. Slotted in for graduation in
2020, this 6’1 combo guard initially made his footprint at Vanguard High School
in Lake Wales, Florida where he most recently averaged 17.3 points, 5.8 assists
and 3.3 rebounds during his sophomore year campaign.
Kai is now showcasing his talents
at Wilbraham & Monson Academy (“WMA”), a prep School in Wilbraham,
Pennsylvania. WMA prepares student athletes for the next level both on and off
the court, with recent graduates moving on to the likes of the University of Kentucky,
Indiana University and the University of Connecticut, all renowned Division 1 (“D-1”)
basketball powerhouses.
From the WMA basketball website: “Many others are competing at other competitive basketball programs. Our player development and conditioning routines, practice and game preparation, and emphasis on shaping high-performing student-athletes make us one of the top basketball programs in the United States.”
Although just commencing his junior year, Kai has already earned numerous accolades including unofficial visits to top D-1 programs. He is committed to playing at the next level, with Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina being his dream school of choice.
Stamped as a top prospect within the Class of 2020, Kai recently participated
in the Elite 75 Showcase, a summer time tournament featuring top college
prospects from all over the U.S.
As part of recap from the Elite 75 Showcase, experts had the
following to say:
“Kai Robinson, Wilbraham & Monson – Robinson started to make a name for himself Saturday by showing the skills and presence of a true point guard. He was constantly communicating, showing a high I.Q., tight handle, and very smooth jumper.”
Kai was introduced to basketball
at age 8 through the Cayman Islands Basketball Association (“CIBA”), a
nonprofit governing body for basketball in the Cayman Islands. It was “love at
first sight” as they say, and Kai has not looked back.
CIBA facilitates the
development of Cayman’s youth through its leagues, ongoing programs and clinics
offered throughout the year. CIBA’s objectives are as follows:
To use basketball as a tool to develop exceptional citizens
To increase levels of participation for health and self-esteem
To provide avenues for national and college recruitment
for young, promising athletes
Offer an alternative method of mediation to reduce the number of
youths left unsupervised after-school
and on weekends
To promote a healthy and active society through basketball
To build national pride through participation in regional and
international games
Led by Technical
Director Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro, CIBA provides Cayman’s youth access to
basketball at a young age beginning with the CIBA Basketball Academy offered to
7 – 9 year olds. Aside from the Academy, locally sponsored leagues are offered
to players giving youth the opportunity to display and master the foundational
skills learned at the Academy within a competitive team environment.
These leagues would not be possible without local sponsors, KPMG sponsoring the Under 14 Boys and Girls Leagues and PwC sponsoring the Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues.
The PwC Basketball Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues sponsorship plaque of appreciation presented to PwC’s Graeme Sunley, PwC Cayman’s territory leader
CIBA has been the
guiding path in sending close to 20 local Cayman youths on to prep schools in
the U.S. over the past few years, with one local product Jorge Ebanks now playing
professionally in Europe. Furthermore,
the Cayman Islands National Men’s Basketball team won the gold medal at the most
recent Island Games.
With the second inaugural Cayman
Islands Classic Basketball tournament (featuring top D-1 programs from the
U.S.) wrapping up recently, perhaps it is just a matter of short time that we
see one of Cayman’s very own showcasing their talents in this annual
tournament.
For more information on CIBA,
including the CIBA program offerings along with sponsorship opportunities,
visit the CIBA website at: https://caymanbasketball.com/
Everyone loves it when the game goes down to the wire! That’s exactly what happened when the Women of Valor Fearless took met their counterparts, Women of Valor Courage in the finals of the PwC under 16 Girls League title match.
These young ladies were anything but lady-like when the jump ball took place, making it clear they were all about business and could save the pleasantries until after the final whistle. The game saw several lead changes and it was unclear as to who was walking away with the crown. Latoya Brown of the WoV Courage dominated the paint, blocking almost anything that came near her and intimidating her opponents. Lyandrea Watson was all over the court and all over the stat sheet, doing whatever was required to get her team to victory, scoring, rebounding and also snatching the ball away whenever it came in her vicinity.
But it was the the day when Fearlessness would prove more valiant that Courage as Shante Reid and Zaria Ebanks combined for 25 of their team’s 33 points and led their team to a 1 point victory in the dying seconds of the game! Ebanks and Reid were also most dominant for their teams on the boards, combing for 18 rebounds.
Final Score: WV Fearless 33 points vs WV Courage 32 points
