Meet the Belize City Defenders of the 2020 NEBL Season
In tonight’s newscast, we feature another Belize City team competing in the 2020 season of the National Elite Basketball League. Like other teams across the league, the Belize City Defenders has also made changes to its roster of players. While they have brought back Nigel Jones for another season, the team has also acquired the talents of MVP player Devin Daly. Assistant Coach Darwin Leslie and a number of new faces have made strengthened the team. News Five caught up with the Defenders as they trained in anticipation of Friday’s match against the Verdes team from Cayo.
Devin Daly, Shooting Guard, Belize City Defenders
“2020 – new year, new team, new change, new game, new rules; just time for a change.”
Devin Daly
Duane Moody
“Talk to us about the chemistry; what’s going on here.”
Devin Daly
“Dah just kinda really one team, one goal. Very unselfish basketball, very talented team, well rounded team, well coached team, great ownership….all around. So I just think dah wah well rounded team and right now, despite that first lost in San Pedro, right now we definitely have a good rhythm with the team. I think we make pressure for ourselves. I noh believe ina pressure. Honestly, I deh pan this team and dah just whatever role the team might need me fi fill. But I think this team already have a really good cast coming in and I just di try fill wah lee gap—whatever they may need—so I definitely think dah wah contender.”
Nigel Jones
Nigel Jones, Belize City Defenders
“One thing I took from last season is I wanted to come back with better leadership skills; yo know wanted to show more and do more and not just say it, I wanted to actually do it. So I took the initiative on myself to figure out what I wanted out of it. I don’t want to sound all cocky, but you have to be confident that you gonna get it done. I know we said that the last two years and we came up short both times, but I really feel like this is the year. We’ve been going hard every day. I came back about December and since I’ve been back, I know that we’ve been going hard every day, four or five days a week since I’ve been back. And I think training camp has been going on since October. One thing I can say it kinda hurt last season going through everything that we did, all the hard work, to come up short like that. So we want to hold each other more accountable this season individually.”
Darwin “Puppy” Leslie
Darwin “Puppy” Leslie, Assistant Coach, Belize City Defenders
“It’s a younger team and we feel like we need to get a little bit younger and a little bit faster so our intention is to do the best that we can to get back to the championship. Right now, we don’t focus on the next team; we try to focus on us. We know that each game is an opportunity for us to get better; each night at practice is an opportunity for us to get better. It’s not much more of whom we are facing, but getting better every time this group meets up.”
