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.
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.
The national Women’s team pulled off their first win of their 2019 Island Games run with a decisive victory over Jersey.
The Cayman team has a lot of potential and are improving with each passing game. It will be important for the team to stick together over the coming years to continue to build chemistry.
Photo take with Cayman’s Minister of Sports – the Honourable Julianna O’Connor-Connolly
The Sol Blazers have again been crowned as the CIBA National Division 1 Men’s Champions for the 4th consecutive year.
Defending Champions Sol Blazers, swept IRG Astros 83 points to 78 points, in an off your seat, nail biting and thrilling final in the second game of the best of 3 series, to become once again the National Men’s Basketball Champions for 2019.
This will be Blazers’ 7th title and 4 straight Championship.
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.
The Tribal Tattoo Lady Warriors have made history as the winningest team in Women’s basketball. After their 2-0 Series win over the Women of Valor Alumni, the Lady Warriors became the first team in women’s basketball history to win 5 consecutive titles and a total of 8 titles in the past 10 years.
The lady Warriors executed a very specific game plan to overcome the leagues scoring champion Khailan O’Connor and her supporting cast. The goal was to keep the ball out of O’Connor’s hands an apply stifling defense when she didn’t have the ball. O’Connor’s every move was met with help defense. On offense, the Lady Warriors attacked the WOV’s 1-1-3 defense with a 2-1-2 offense, making it difficult for the Women of Valor team to trap as planned.
In the 4th quarter of game 2, the Lady Warriors were able to finally pull away from their opponents to seal the game in emphatic fashion and add more hardware to their shelves. The only question now is: ill anyone be able to break up this dynasty before they all retire? Only time will tell and there are certainly some players that are eager to do so.
With record turnouts
this year, the Cayman Islands Basketball Association’s (“CIBA”) orchestrated Academy
continues to lay the foundation for youth to develop and showcase their basketball
talents.
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 the Technical
Director of CIBA, Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro, the Academy offers youth access
to learn the fundamentals of basketball in a fun environment that is open to
both boys and girls with any level of experience.
The Academy details are
as follows:
Academy Start Date / End Date: Year round, generally in conjunction
with school terms
Academy Location: First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman on
Saturdays (across from the Lions’ Centre)
7 – 9 year olds: 9 AM – 10 AM
10 – 12 year olds: 10 AM – 11:15 AM
13 – 16 year olds: 11:15 AM – 12:30 PM
(10 -12 year old session gathering at center court with Coach Corey McGee at the Academy)
Aside from the Academy, locally sponsored leagues are
offered for youth 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 by Michael
Diamond to PwC’s Graeme Sunley, PwC Cayman’s territory leader)
PwC Sponsor Statement: Craig Smith, Partner at PwC says, “PwC is
proud to support the PwC Basketball Under 16 Boys and Girls Leagues as we
believe that organizations such as CIBA provide a positive outlet for the youth
of the Cayman Islands and encourages the kids to stay active, develop their
talents and provides local and overseas opportunities which in turn forms a
strong foundation for success in the future. We also recognize the individuals
who are vital to running the league efficiently by volunteering their time and
efforts to ensure the season is a successful one.”
(The KPMG Basketball Under 14 Boys and Girls Leagues sponsorship check presented by Andrew Stepaniuk, Partner – Head of Audit, and Jodie McTaggart, Accounting Advisory Services Manager, of KPMG to Coach Voot and Michael Diamond of CIBA)
KPMG Sponsor Statement:
“KPMG continues to support the Under 14 Basketball
program as we see the value and benefits over the years that the students
receive from participating, thanks to Coach Victor “Voot” O’Garro and his
colleagues. We have seen the success of some of the participants continuing
abroad and we look forward to the future success of other students in the
program.” Andrew Stepaniuk, Partner at KPMG in the Cayman Islands stated.
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 and is currently prepping to defend their title this summer
in Gibraltar.
With anticipation of the 3rd
inaugural Cayman Islands Classic Basketball tournament (featuring top D-1
programs from the U.S.) coming back to Grand Cayman in November, perhaps it is
just a matter of short time until 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/
