Belize National Basketball Team unveiled
After several weeks of secrecy the Belize men’s selection for the upcoming CARICOM basketball championships was unveiled late this afternoon at City Centre. News Five was on hand for the event and our reporters have just returned from the gym.
A dozen giants descended on the Belize Civic Center this afternoon to play ball. The Belize National Male Basketball Team was finally introduced in their first workout for the public. According to the six foot nine small forward Kirk “Shabba” Smith, this is his time to show off for his country.
Kirk Smith, Small Forward
“I guess this is a good tournament. I didn’t play in the last one; I did not go to Jamaica. This is going to be my first CARICOM game. It is going to be great. I can’t really complain to represent Belize you know.”
Representing Belize takes a lot though and most players agree that the secret to winning lies in the strategy.
Milton Palacio, Guard
“We have a lot of strategies; we have a lot of plays. What you’ll see a lot of is up and down tempo. We like to push the ball because we have a lot of athletes.”
Kirk Smith
“Well, they’ve got to know one another, understand the game, follow the coach’s plays, execute all the plays the coach assign us to do and that makes a good team.”
Edward “Bart” Sanchez, Guard
“The key to winning games is rebounding and defense. If we do those things I think we stand a great chance. If we can control our rebounds, we will definitely have the ball most of the time and if we have a great defense then that is a big key too.”
And for their first game this Friday, doing well, is their only option.
Milton Palacio
“What makes a good team would be solid players – players coming together and working hard, what we have been doing for the past couple weeks.
There will be a lot of distractions and just clear your mind and play hard. Give it all you’ve got and put out a lot.”
Much more will be seen of the team when they play an all star NBA line up Wednesday night as part of their warm up for the games. Arreini Palacio for News Five.
Players on the Belize National Basketball Team are: Milton Palacio, Keith Acosta, Alex Carcamo, Kent Bennett, Fred Garcia, Orlin Simplis, Kirk `Shabba’ Smith, Clinton Fuller, Kenroy Smith, Roger Favela, Claude `Too Tall’ Jones and Bart Sanchez. Bart’s selection is special for us here at Channel Five as he is one of our master control operators and is in fact on duty as I speak.
