Belizean baller off to try out for U.S. female league

She blazed onto centre court from an early age, and tonight female basketball star Tracy Garnett is getting ready to jump into the big leagues. The twenty-one year old has been offered a chance to strut her stuff for team coaches of the National Women’s Basketball League in the United States. On December tenth, the young athlete will travel to San Jose California’s DeAnza College to participate in the sixth annual draft of the N.W.B.L. According to the National Sports Council, Tracy’s tryout will represent the first time a Belizean woman living in Belize will get a shot to squeeze onto a professional team roster. This morning, we caught up with an extremely elated Garnett at the National Sports Council conference room.

Tracy Garnett, Trying out for U.S. League
?I?m very overwhelmed, excited, and the way I feel at this time, there is no words that I can say to express to you how excited I am. But I?m really looking forward to meet new people, for example those that play in the W.N.B.A. like Ruth Rally, Becky Hammon, Lisa Leslie, so I?ll be meeting these players when I go to San Jose on the tenth, so I?m very, very, very overwhelmed.?

Janelle Chanona
?What advice would you give to other young players watching this who maybe have hoop dreams as big as yours??

Tracy Garnett
?I would like them to take my opportunity as their motivation, also if they have any dreams, I don?t want them to give up. Things can happen; everything is possible once you look forward to it.?

Nellie Trench, Acting Dir., National Sports Council
?Female athletes have never reached to this point where Tracy is going right now. And so as a result of that, we find this, especially for the programme that we run here at the Sports Council because we are here to promote and develop sports at all levels. And so this opens the door for our young female athletes that when you finish, you play ball from the primary school to high school and tertiary level, you can go further from here.?

In Belize, Garnett’s impressive career postings include being recognised as the first woman to lead her team to four National High School championships, in addition to being chosen as the Most Valuable Player in all four Central Division and National titles.