The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MARVIN Henfield’s open house for his new shooting “lab” on Saturday at the former Caribbean Bottling Company’s warehouse got a lot of good reviews from both parents and participants of his Caribbean Sports Academy (CSA).

Henfield got a chance to show off his latest training facility as he outlined plans for his Marvin Henfield Basketball Shooting Academy for those players who have been marginalised because of their shooting abilities.

Monique Weir, the mother of Tyler Burrows, a 12th grader at Kingsway Academy, said while he’s been apart of CSA for the past two and-a-half years, his ultimate goal is to become a collegiate and professional basketball player and this programme offers the right recipe to get him prepared for those lofty goals.

“This is extension 2.0. I feel this will help to cultivate and bring out his skills and help to perfect the skills that he already has and probably even push him further in pursuit of his aspirations,” Weir said. “We’ve already signed up and we’re ready to go. We’re just waiting for the launch on November 15.”

Burrows, a 15-year-old six-foot shooting guard, said his aim this year is to push himself to get to the next level.

“I want to keep working hard because I know what I want to achieve in life,” he said. “I feel like coach Henfield is really going to help me and others who are a part of this programme. He wants to bring out the best in all of us.”

One of the females involved in the programme is Elayna Griffith. Her mother Kerilee Griffith said when she noticed her daughter’s height, she thought the best thing for her to do was to engage in a sporting activity and they decided on basketball.

“I knew something deeper was planted inside of her and in a long story cut short, we were invited by coach Henfield to join the programme after he saw the potential in her and he tried to bring it out of her,” Griffith said.

“He also wanted to instil a firm foundation in her in terms of her morals and values, so it’s a complete package. Yes, she has the sports, but having the sports and not the firm foundation is useless. So the fact that this basketball camp has that focus, we decided to get involved in it.”

At 14 years old, Griffith has been involved in the programme since March 2020, but she said she’s only using it as a hobby because her goal in life is to go to college and pursue her dream of becoming a detective.

“I think the facility is a good idea. It will contribute to the youth of the Bahamas and inspire them to do great things incorporated with basketball and help them to get out of their shell,” said the 10th grader at St John’s College, who unfortunately has not yet played for the Giants’ basketball team.

“I’m shy, so hopefully this will help me to get out of that phase because my goal is to go to college and study detective work. I don’t think I want to do basketball as a career, at least not yet. But I will consider it. If it’s my destiny, then I will pursue it. I just have to see how it goes.”

Having played at the highest level in the country as a national team player in volleyball, Barry Nairn is hoping that his son, Tyler Nairn, would follow in his footsteps, but he noted that he has more of a liking for baseball than basketball.

He noted that he’s just there to support him in where his heart is leaning.

“I’ve known coach Henfield for quite a while and because my son was between the two sports, he still has a passion for basketball, so we came here to check it out and to see where it will take him,” Nairn said.

A 14-year-old ninth grader at Kingsway Academy, Tyler Nairn said he hopes to try out for the Saints’ basketball and softball teams once they resume sporting activities for the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools.

In the meantime, he said he wants to gain as much knowledge about basketball so he could be better prepared whenever the trials are held at Kingsway Academy.

“I like baseball more than I do basketball,” quipped the infielder who is a part of the Junior Baseball League of Nassau. “I got into basketball just to train more, but I love it.”

As for following in the footsteps of his father, Tyler Nairn said while he’s seen the trophies Barry Nairn has attained, he doesn’t have any interest right now in playing volleyball. He wants to continue playing baseball and basketball in that order.

In thanking those persons who braved the inclement weather to come out and view the open house, Henfield said when the “lab” is officially launched on November 15, he will be looking forward to some great progress from the participants.

During the open house, Henfield was joined by members of his team, including Jabari Wilmott, his financial advisor and assistant coach, along with Sanchaz, another assistant coach.

“If you go into a lab, you tend to come out with some innovative creations,” Henfield said. “In that vein, each of my kids in the CSA programme are like my seeds. I take that seed and put it into the soil.

“Once I water it and they get some sunlight, the seed starts to mature and develop. That purpose, that potential inside of that person begins to come out. Through this shooting academy, we hope to bring out all of the possibilities of that player as a shooter.”

Calling it the first step in his new venture through his International Youth Education and Sports Foundation (IYES), Henfield presented a video presentation of the operation of the “lab,” but he noted that “it’s not where we end, but rather where we begin.

“In about six months, we already envision that we would have outgrown this place, so we are already looking at expanding at another location. This is just the first phase of our innovation with the lab.”

Indicating that the “lab” will only be created to develop the shooting skills of the players, Henfield said when they officially open, they will only be able to cater to 12 players per hour using the shooting goals erected on the wall on the inside of the building.

Eventually, there will also be another 6-7 shooting goals placed on the outside of the building where the MHBSA will be able to cater to a few more players as they work on their ball-handling skills.

The goal, according to Henfield, will work on those players who sit on the bench of their respective high school teams or won’t get the opportunity to make the team because of their lack of skills.

For the past 2-3 decades, Henfield said he has devoted his time to assisting those players because he remembered how he was marginalised when he attended RM Bailey High School and wasn’t able to make the Pacers’ team under the late coach Charles ‘Chuck’ Mackey because he didn’t have the skills as his peers.

The programme is expected to begin at 4pm and will cater to the younger male and the female players up to the older players when the final session takes place around 7-8 pm.

On Saturday, Henfield will allow those members of the public who are not a part of CSA to come in and view the facilities between the hours of noon and 2pm for their second open house before they complete the registration for the launch of the programme.