The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE Caribbean Hoopfest basketball tournament is back for its fifth edition and organiser Donald Francois said the two-day event this weekend at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium will be bigger and better.

What started out as a birthday trip six years ago turned out to be the introduction of the tournament that originated in Jamaica, according to Francois.

Francois, a descendant of Haiti, said his Jamaican partner Stephanie Halsted wanted to spread out the tournament in the Caribbean and after they came for the birthday party, they started with just a varsity division, but now they have the 13U division.

“If you get them young, they will stick around a lot longer," said Francois, in their decision to expand the tournament.

"We are also looking at switching the dates next year because we want to get the teams from Florida to come and participate. But unlike the teams coming from New York, they can't come at this time because they are getting ready for the opening of school."

The Caribbean Bottling Company, through its trademark Coca-Cola, will be the primary sponsor for the tournament, which will also feature the involvement of Bahamian National Basketball Association player Chavano “Buddy” Hield of the Atlanta Hawks.

"In the five years that we have hosted the tournament, we have been able to get four players off to school in the United States," Francois said. "We had one from Grand Bahama and three from New Providence.

"We bring high school and college scouts here to look at the potential players," Francois said.

It's anticipated that around 100 -plus persons from New York are expected to make the trek here this week for the tournament, including three varsity teams, who will play against four teams from The Bahamas, including the junior national basketball team.

Additionally, there will be four under-16 teams and three teams in the under-13 division. "We want to partner with the coaches and help the infrastructure here. That is our main goal," Francois said. "We've had some resistance, but we are hoping to get all the support we can to make the event a success. "The Bahamas is a beautiful place and there's a lot of talent here. So we want to see if we can assist more players like ‘Buddy’ Hield and ‘VJ’ Edgecombe, who left in high school to play in the United States and go on to become NBA players.

The tournament is set to get started 9am Saturday at Kendal  Isaacs Gym and continue Sunday when the champions will be decided.