The Tribune

THE annual D-Squad Pre-Season Basketball Tournament wrapped up this weekend with reigning tournament champion CC Sweeting Senior High School walking away victorious once again.

Celebrating its 10th year under the leadership of founder and director Harcourt McCoy, D-Squad is one of the few basketball tournaments that bring public and private schools together for friendly competition amongst senior boys.

Held at the A F Adderley Junior High School Gymnasium over the weekend, 16 schools representing 240 children competed in the tournament. The CC Sweeting Cobras also hold the reigning championship title in the GSSSA and the popular Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic. With this preseason win, they are poised to dominate the competition into 2016.

Teams in the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) league and the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools (BAISS) league clamour for the opportunity to participate in D-Squad’s tournament as they use the occasion to test out their teams before the formal inter-school competition begins. Four teams entered both A and B squads in the tournament.

“All of the coaches get to see what their players look like ahead of the season. It is a good tool for coaches because you don’t want to find out about your team’s strengths and weaknesses when you are in the heat of the battle. Most coaches use it as a testing ground to get their teams in order,” said McCoy, who is the senior vice principal of Anatol Rogers Senior High School and coach of the senior boys’ basketball team.

“D-Squad is one of those competitions that allow government and private schools to play together. Imagine, schools like SAC and Doris Johnson are right next to each other and yet their students would never have the opportunity to play together. That is crazy,” said McCoy.

“We try to foster camaraderie by bringing coaches and players together for healthy competition. With everything going on in the country I think sports allows you to bring people together, there is a connection made between people when they respect each other through sports,” he said.

The RM Bailey Pacers took home the second place prize in the tournament, which is sure to build confidence in the team as they haven’t had a major championship win in some five years. The Anatol Rogers Timberwolves placed third in the competition, sending a clear message that they intend to contest the GSSSA champion title.

When coach McCoy took over the team in 2013, it hadn’t won a game in over a year. However, in Hugh Campbell this year the team placed third and in the South Andros Pre-Season Tournament over the midterm break, it placed second.

“The wolf climbing the hill is always hungrier than the wolf sitting on the hill. We are really hungry. It has always been a battle because the prominent names in basketball are usually CC Sweeting, CI Gibson and C R Walker. But we have a ferocious drive to get to the top and we feel we have all the parts to make it happen this year. We are trying to do something that is unprecedented. It is the perfect underdog story in the making,” said McCoy.

McCoy has been making a name for himself since his days as a championship high school basketball player under the tutelage of Doug Collins at AF Adderley and Charles Mackey at RM Bailey. Most recently he was the coach of the national under-17 boys team. When he was at DW Davis, he led the junior boys team to championship status in 2000 and 2001. At Doris Johnson, he contested several championships, although winning the title remained elusive there.

With his D-Squad programme, McCoy remains committed to building the lives of young people through basketball. In addition to the pre-season tournament, D-Squad has an annual summer camp for girls and boys aged 5 to 17.

“We cater to children at all skill levels and try to sharpen their skills. We don’t turn anyone away. We want kids to learn the fundamentals of basketball - dribbling, shooting, passing, defence - but ultimately the camp is based on the fundamentals and principles of drive, dedication, determination and discipline,” said McCoy of the three-week summer camp.

Now that the D-Squad Pre-Season Tournament is wrapped up, the teams will continue preparations for the start of the GSSSA and BAISS leagues with a better understanding of the calibre of competition coming this year.

Other competitors in the tournament included CI Gibson, Doris Johnson, Queen’s College, Government High School, CV Bethel, Kingsway Academy, Mount Carmel, Temple Christian and Jordan Prince William.