Since February, the Belize Basketball Association has been holding tryouts and practices with an under 18 team in order to prepare them for the King James Tournament to be held in Ohio.
It's been a long 3 months for the athletes as they wait in anticipation to participate in the tournament, today, they finally left the country. 7News was there to see them off, and we got a chance to speak with a few of the athletes and their coaches.
Here's what they told us about their expectations for their performance while in Ohio.
Bernie Tarr – Coach, U-18 King James Team
"Yes we are all set, we rapped things up yesterday about noon so I was able to smile, relax a bit after that and we are very excited to go look forward to keep that one goal. Our goal is to get one individual a scholarship. We were fortunate to get four last year so we will see what happens this year."
Steven Williams - Assistance Coach, U-18 King James
"It's just for them to keep that mindset and focus because from seeing the guys in workout for the past couple weeks and so forth; they are ready, so it's just to go out there and put whatever they did in workout into action."
Brandon Flowers – Power Forward/Center
"I went on this trip last year and this is my second time going so I think I will be an important player on the team. I also helped rebounding. defensively and on every defensive position and steals that we get make sure that we convert."
Zackary Usher – Center
"I feel we have a very good chance out there because our team is a very fast team, we are light and we run the ball very well so if we push the fast break I think we will beat a lot of teams out there. I am not going to lie. The last them they were six ten, six eight in the starting 5 but to out rebound them you have to box them out an play very strong and have extra effort in boxing them out."
Lisani Lambey – Shooting Guard
"It is just to play ball and use our quickness and speed to get around them since they are bigger players. It's just playing ball and doing our best."
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