The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

IN its inaugural edition, the Top 50 basketball camp paid immediate dividends for several of its participants as they earned scholarship opportunities to continue their athletic and educational careers in the United States.

The camp looks to extend its reach in year two when it hosts the top scouted prep players in the country in a series of exhibitions to display their skills before several international coaches. The second edition will be hosted in New Providence July 23-25.

The Bahamas Basketball Federation, Bahamas Global Sports Foundation, CSA Basketball Academy and iOWNpr hosted the the camp in conjunction with the International Coaches Clinic.

Veteran NCAA division I head coach Ronnie Arrow most recently served as an assistant coach at Texas Southern University but is most well known for his over 30 years of head coaching experience at San Jacinto Community College, Texas A and M Corpus Christi and two stints with South Alabama.

Arrow recently endorsed the camp in a promotional video which went viral.

“For the past four years I was fortunate enough to go down and coach the youth of the Bahamas and participate in the top 50 camp. Let me say that if youre looking for players and you’re looking for good people to come to the states and excel in your programme, if I were you I would be down to see this talent,” he said. “You will be surprised at the number of players that are just waiting for you to come and see. You won’t be battling the 2,000 coaches in Las Vegas, you will be there on the ground floor to get you some good players, good people, good citizens for your programme.”

Arrow, familiar with Bahamian basketball talent after he recruited one of the country’s 40 greatest players of all time, Craig “Magic” Walkine, said the rankings system of the top 50 camp was beneficial to the recruiting process.

“The system, they did a great job with that. It was a first-class report and hopefully the organisers will be able to get these out to Division I, Division II and Division III coaches, then more and more scouts and coaches will be here next year. The talent is here. Parents, ex-players, anybody that is interested in basketball, you owe it to this country, you owe it to these young kids to get out and support these kids because you have some major talent here,” he said.

The breakdown of the camp includes the top 10 players between grades 7-9, the top 20 players in grades 10-12 and the top 20 players who have graduated high school or currently attend a junior college. There were 11 Bahamian players that received scholarship opportunities from American high schools and colleges.

CSA basketball director Marvin Henfield said the true measure of the camp’s success will be when the organisation is able to publish the names of the players that have received scholarship opportunities through the process.

“We want to continue to expand on the length and magnitude of the top 50,” he said. “We are not trying to invent the wheel, we just need to duplicate. We are not trying to change the game here in the Bahamas, what we want to to is raise the standard. Not just in presentation, but also in the opportunities for our kids to go abroad and receive an education.”

The scholarship offers ranged from high school to junior colleges, to NAIA, NCAA Division II institutions.

Arguably the top performer at the camp, Stephen Strachan transferred to Moberly Area Community College in Missouri.

Samson Cleare, a 6’7” forward, earned an opportunity with the Cumberland University Bulldogs.

At the high school level, Travis Barnett - a 6’1” guard - and Kevin Cooper - a 6’ 7” forward - led the way in earning scholarships from that field.

The graduate/unattached group produced the largest number of beneficiaries with seven players earning an opportunity with NCAA Division II Lindenwood University, most notably, 6’5” wing Kenrico Lockhart.

“One of the things I want to do with this event is I want to be able to archive our success and the kids’ success.

“I know a lot of organisations and events say they send kids off, but we want to make known and we want to make public through the media, through the website and these other outlets, the names of these individuals.”