Coaches and players return to train for basketball tourney
It was only a little more than a month ago that the nation’s collective heartbeat was racing just about as fast as our national basketball team was running down the court en route to its first ever CARICOM Championship. Now as a new challenge looms on the horizon the winning coaches and the first wave of players have returned to Belize in the hope that lightning will strike twice. Arreini Palacio caught up with them following a meeting at the National Sports Council.
Just when you thought the Dream Team was gone for good, they come back and with the help of Coach David Greenwood, Belize’s basketball heroes are once again looking for the gold. The National Basketball Team will be joining the regions best at the Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in Maracaibo, Venezuela, August fourth through ninth. According to Greenwood the team will be ready for some serious court action.
David Greenwood, Coach
“We have new strategies and we have new players and we will try to be to bigger, faster and better than we were the last time.”
And this time round the players are more than geared up for the challenge.
Milton Palacio, Player
“It’s a great honor to come back and represent the country again in the PANAM Games and we are just looking forward, preparing to go out there.”
Olin Simpliss, Player
“Just go ahead and do the things that we did in the last tournament. You know work on our rebounds and we have a few fellows that did not play for the team the last time so that should help our front line. And the fact that the floors we will be playing on will be better than the one here, so we will be able to do more of the stuff that we are capable of doing.”
Kent Bennett, Player
“We are going to stay with our game plan that we had before. We have a few more players that we are adding on and we are dropping a few so it should definitely be more stable.”
Some of the original dozen will not make an appearance this time, as they could not get time off from work or school, but coach Greenwood says that the new players are ready.
David Greenwood
“We have Dwight Myvett who played in Korea last year and we have Kennon Jordan who played for Puerto Rico but he is Belizean. We have a couple new guys who are going to show some quick guys.
We are running a little close now but the thing with these players is that they have played enough basketball that they know their basic sets and they used them with the other coaches. Most of them assured me that they know what to run and they assured me that they can play.”
The rest of team should arrive on Monday but workouts will start this Thursday night. Arreini Palacio for News Five.
Also arriving today was assistant coach Clarence Morgan. The rest of the Belize contingent to the Caribbean and Central American Games includes the male volleyball team, cyclists, boxers, track and field athletes and competitors in karate.
