The Home Of Basketball in The Cayman Islands
The Home Of Basketball in The Cayman Islands
Federal International Basketball Association (FIBA) General Secretary Andreas Zagklis with CIBA President Mr. Richard Parchment and Technical Director Coach Victor Voot O’Garro at the CBC General Assembly in Dominica.
The Cayman Islands U-18 team made history by recording not only their first win in the festival, but also their first win for international youth tournaments at Grand Cayman’s amazing facility.
Cayman defeated Bermuda 85-49 in the opener, due to suffocating full court defensive pressure. Cayman set the tone of the game with their in-your-face defense; forcing Bermuda to commit 34 turnovers. Both teams were evenly matched in rebounds and free throw percentage; Cayman shot 45% from the field and 25% from 3 point range; led by the hot shooting of Brad Lansdell who went 5 of 9 from behind the arc, and Kai Robinson who was 3 of 7 from 3 point range. Bermuda was only able to shoot 12.5% from behind the arc.
Cayman was led by Kai Robinson, who finished with 23 points, 4 assists and 3 steals, while Joshua O’Garro posted the best overall game with an impressive 22 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Brad Lansdell also made a massive impact with his 19 points, 8 steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Tareaque Simpson was solid, pouring in 10 points to go along with his 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.
For Bermuda: Jorel Smith led with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. While teammate Christian Liyanage added 8 points and 7 rebounds.
Cayman’s National Men’s team have repeated GOLD at the Natwest Island Games after defeating powerhouse Sareema in the Championship match.
This mean’s that the men’s program has medaled 6 out of the total ten appearances at the Islands games, racking up 4 silver and now 2 straight Gold Medals. What has been the difference? College Experience!
The Current Cayman national Men’s team comprise of 12 players: 11 of which have played either in College and/or high school in the United States and 1 player that has played professionally in Germany, as opposed to previous silver medal teams that had 3-5 players with such experience. This exposure has no doubt better equipped the team to compete at higher levels. Cayman’s focus this year was defensive domination; Cayman played all of their opponents a full-court man-to-man defense. Cayman’s defense was intense, aggressive and suffocating, resulting in them winning only one game of their 5 by less than 20 points.
Cayman was strong off the bench as well, young players like Arin Taylor, Juawon Ebanks, Joshua O’Garro and Kai Robinson all came in and also put on stellar performances. Overall it was a fantastic performance by the men’s team who will now focus their attention on the next Caribbean Championships tournament and an invitational tournament next Easter.
Head Coach Ed Pellot-Rosa and assistant Coach Duran Whittaker did a fantastic job preparing the team to defend their title.
The Cayman Team: Deandre Simpson, Kwei General, Shaad O’Garro, Arin Taylor, Samuel O’Garro, Jake Whittaker, Philip Webb, Davion Cotterell, Kai Robinson, Joshua O’Garro, Tikko Moore, Juawon Ebanks.
The defending Island Games Champions are sending message loud and clear to their opponents, they mean business! Thus far, Cayman has steamrolled their competition, with their latest win over Aland being 154-13. But the champs will face much stiffer competition as they move into the semi-final round agains the like of teams like Menorca and Gibraltar.
Come what may, Cayman is ready!
Today, Sunday July 7th, Action Starts for Cayman basketball when the Women take on their rivals, Gibraltar at 10:15 AM Cayman Time.
Then Cayman’s National Men’s team take on Isle of Wight at 12:30 pm Cayman Time. The National Men are expected to easily win this game as the IOW has never defeated the Cayman team in the tournament’s existence.
To watch the Games live please visit: https://www.facebook.com/GibraltarBasket/
Cayman’s National Men and Women’s Teams are off to the Island Games! After months of preparation, Cayman’s best are ready to lay it all on the court as they compete for basketball prowess. To keep up with the teams click Here
Cayman Islands National U19 Basketball player Justin Collins has received and accepted a Basketball Scholarship to attend NCAA Division II Cal State LA University located in Los Angeles.
Collins, a 6-foot, 2-inch guard, was named the Heritage League Most Valuable Player of the year as a senior as well as numerous awards throughout his career in Santa Clarita Christian High School in California and he helped lead the team to a state championship as a junior.
Justin was coached by Head Coach James Mosley and started at the guard position for 4 years.
The Bodden Town native announced his decision to attend California State University on social media.
Cal State LA’s head coach is Jim Saia, formerly head coach at Cal State San Marcos and Fresno Pacific.
Saia has 14 years of coaching experience at the NCAA Division I level, including seven years as the top assistant coach at UCLA and one year at USC, where he served as the interim head coach for most of the season.
Saia has helped more than 17 players onto rosters of National Basketball Association teams, including Baron Davis, Dan Gadzuric, Earl Watson, Jason Kapono, Nick Young and Matt Barnes.
There is excitement around the upcoming Youth Basketball Tournament which will showcase Cayman’s local youth talent. The tournament takes place during July 18-20 and will feature boys and girls teams. All four countries will be represented in the boys category and Cayman vs Port Arthur will have a 3 game series in the Girls Category.
Pastor Wanda Bodden – Founder of Bringing Back the Glory Tournaments – had a vision 3 years ago to give children of Port Arthur Texas, who had been devastated by hurricane Harvey, an opportunity to get international exposure and a glimmer of hope despite their current circumstances. She then reached out to the CI Basketball Association & Department of Sports about having a tournament with Cayman, given Port Arthur’s rich history with Caymanians who had settled and started families in Port Arthur many decades ago.
Despite a few challenges, this dream has now become a reality. Cayman will get to showcase some of its high school talent, many of whom will be performing on home soil for the first time; Port Arthur, a city of 50,000 people, will live up to its reputation of athletic prowess, and now with the additions of Bermuda and Trinidad & Tobago, it has turned out to be quite a tournament indeed.
Tournament schedule will be released soon.
Cayman’s National Basketball Women Hope To Repeat History At The 2019 Island Games!
The Cayman Islands National Women’s Basketball team is no stranger to hardware at the NATWEST Island Games!
The very first three years of the Cayman women competing at the Island Games was a huge success with the women winning 3 medals under the guidance of the Technical Director for Cayman Islands Basketball Association and then Head Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro.
The Cayman Islands made an enormous impression when they won Gold in the Isle of Man for their very first tournament appearance in 2001; Bronze in Guernsey 2003 and Gold in Shetland Isles/Gibraltar 2005.
But it would be 2007 Rhodes, Greece where Cayman placed 8th that would put a damper on the women competing at the prestigious games going forward. The women did not compete in 2009 through 2013, but would try their hearts at it once again at the all too familiar tournament held in Jersey, Island the year of 2015 where Cayman placed 5th. In 2017 in Gotland, Sweden, the women would get close to the podium as they faced Guernsey for the Bronze medal match. Guernsey however, proved too experienced for the young Cayman squad and took away the triplet island’s only chances of bringing home hardware.
President of the Cayman Islands Basketball Association Mr. Richard Parchment said, “This Cayman National Women’s team has history to repeat as medal contenders. Watching their men counterpart in 2017 finally pull off what they have done twice in the past has reignited this team, so July in Gibraltar should be an exciting time for Cayman basketball.”
The Technical Director for Basketball Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro said, the women’s team is in a rebuilding stage but he knows that they’ll get there soon. “Our women are in preparation right now to regain their rightful place on the podium. They have not been on that podium since 2005. However, last year the team placed 4th just missing medal contention. We look forward to the ladies doing an extremely good job this year in Gibraltar.”
This year 2019, the National women’s team consists of Courtisha Ebanks, Hannah Parchment, Scimone Campbell, Khailan O’Connor, Michal Segal, Dionne Anglin, Yolanni Manzanares, Alicia Turner, Melissa Bridgemohan, Stacy-Ann Kelly, Chloe Powery-Doxey and Neandra Forbes.
The 2019 Women’s Coaches are Wendy Manzanares and Cory McGee. The team’s Manager is Melissa Smith.
Coach Wendy Manzanares is very excited to see things coming together with the women’s team as preparation continues. She said, “The last time the women’s team was on the podium at the Island Games was 2005 with Gold. We did not compete in 2009, 2011 or 2013 and in 2017 we placed 4th so now our team is at a stage of rebuilding and is expecting to regain our place on the podium in the near future. The journey is the most important thing and we are definitely aiming to leave a mark.”
Background info on tournament
The NatWest Island Games is held every two years and is an international multi-sports event with Competitor teams representing different island communities with no more than 150,000 people….A mini-Olympics if you must. The 18th annual games will be held in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar between July 6th and 12th 2019.
-Controversially, the games will not include cycling, football, or Indoor Volleyball which have been in all previous games since 1985, due to the lack of venues, instead replaced by tenpin bowling, judo, and squash.
