Two Months ago, the Belize Basketball Association began to recruit talented basketball players around the country who are under 19. It's part of their plan to prepare a team to compete in Belize's second appearance at the King James Tournament in the US State of Ohio from April 26 – 28.
It's been an extended period of recruitment and training, and today the team's coach, Bernie Tarr, caught up with 7News today to update us on the last-minute preparations being made before the team leaves in a few days.
He told us that he feels that this year's team is a lot more prepared than last year's
Bernie Tarr – Coach
"You know it's been a long process and it seems that its coming along very well. This past weekend we had the opportunity to travel to Cayo and Dangriga and played some games against the lower competition. We played the Western Ballers Senior Team, two games in Cayo and down in Dangriga we played the U-26 elect team. It was very very good. We were missing some players in Cayo and then we were missing a player in Dangriga so we learned a lot about our team. These are things we didn't do last year; we didn't get a chance to play against really superior competition until we got to the tournament so I think we got ahead of the curve. With all the verbal commitments of donations, I've been beating those doors down and shaking the trees on that. But just finalizing the paper work, we're going for Visas, I believe on Monday and so we're ahead by a few days from last year. We're planning on departing on Friday. You know just to touch base with the schools and principals, it's just a crazy time right now, so I appreciate them working with us. There are a lot of college coaches that have contacted me already and they look forward to seeing us."
Douglas Valley - Small Forward/Shooting Guard
"This is my first year because I didn't make it to the workout last year for the team, so this is my first year."
Daniel Ortiz
"I'm guessing you're excited about it"
Douglas Valley
"Yes Sir"
Daniel Ortiz
"What sort of training regimen does it take to be selected?"
Douglas Valley
"Well, you just have to have good discipline and as long as the coach sees that you're a disciplined player and he can speak to you and you don't have an attitude, you can make the team. You just have to have the basic knowledge of the game, but everything comes with discipline."
In order to get the Belizean team more exposure to college coaches, they will stop in Pittsburg after they participate in the King James Tournament.
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