And while Mahler was at Roaring river today, last night he was in the t3win towns of San Ignacio and Santa Elena.
Yesterday, the Belize Tourism Board along with the San Ignacio and Santa Elena Basketball Association officially christened a new basketball court at the Victor Galvez Stadium. The space now provides an indoor facility for ballers to play and train. Minister Mahler told us more about it.
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"We said that we would make a mark improvement within the first hundred days. This is the first major accomplishment along with the cleaning up of Marion Jones and other things that we're working on right now. This one makes me feel proud because this is a high quality basketball court whereby we can have competitions here."
"The community reached out and said they wanted to collaborate with us to put down this basketball court. It's a maple floor and so it's high end."
Reporter:
"How is the community and the youth responding?"
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"We've gotten great feedback. Even me as a former basketball player, you want to play on something like this right. And so it's added motivation when you have the infrastructure up to the level that people can feel comfortable to go in."
Devin Daly, Minister of State, Ministry of Tourism, Youth & Sports
"There can be serious development through sports especially if the right foundation, having the right facilities, are in place then the programs follow. We can't put the carriage in front of the horse by having the programs but we only have outdoor facilities. Belize rains six months out of the year and having outdoor facilities is just not enough. Sports changed my life through education because I received a scholarship to go abroad and play professionally and then to come back home to showcase my skills with basketball and currently I'm still not truly finished yet because I'm contemplating playing this season. However, this is a momentous time, I'm full of emotion. I really believe moving forward we can change the trajectory of sports and youth development within our country by having these collaborative moments."
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