B.B.F. selects National Basketball Team
The Belize Basketball Federation announced its selection for the Men’s National Team Roster this afternoon at a press conference which was broadcast live by Channel Five. And there are big names. The national team is playing in the Confederation of Central American Basketball Association which will be held the week of August tenth in Cancun, Mexico. Twenty five members are on the team but only twelve are going to play in the tournament. The players of Belizean Heritage came from as far as Europe and as near as around the corner for the tryouts. Though the players were absent from the briefing, it was clear that the federation believes that it has amassed a pool of talent and skill for next month’s games and their hopes are high.
Kevin Seroki, Coach, National Team
“The players are Gene Myvette, he’s a six-four guard. He’s an energy guy, great hustler. He’s gonna be one of those x-factor guys. Charlie Burgess, a six-one point guard. He’s a really hard nose player and he can also score. Dakin Braddick, six-nine center ford. He is very athletic and as a big man, he will be able to run the floor for us and block a lot of shots. Milton Palacio, six-four point guard. He’s a leader and everybody knows him from 1998. He is one of main leaders who brought gold here for the CARICOM games and also other events that the other international tournaments he played and also great NBA experience.”
Charles Ellis, V.P., B.B.F.
“We have been practicing in preparation for this tournament, locally for about three months now. We have recently added our foreign base players about two weeks now to the process. We are still awaiting the arrival of two more of our big me. This upcoming tournament will include teams from Central America and Mexico. Our division consists of teams like Panama, Guatemala, Belize and Nicaragua. The top two teams from this tournament will advance to the Centro Basket Tournament, which will be held next year, which is a qualifier for the FIBA Americas tournament, which is a qualifier for the Olympics tournament. We are thinking big because we want to achieve big. We believe that we have assembled one of strongest teams ever to represent Belize for this upcoming tournament. Our coaching staff consists of Mr. Kevin Seroki, who has a proven tract record and led Belize to several medals over the past years.”
Julian Murillo, Secretary General, B.B.F.
“They were competing for spaces, but I could tell you the bonding that happened, the level of focus, the way these guys practice; the play their hearts out just to have a spot on the team. We have players who have travelled from Eastern Europe to be here to participate, to have Belize on their chests and it’s an important thing to realize that they see themselves as fully Belizeans. So if your question is around understanding where the local guys are, we have tried not to do that because see everybody as Belizean.”
Kevin Seroki
“Panama, which will play the third game, it will probably be our strongest competition in our bracket so that’s what we’re looking for right now. The tournament’s been set up great for us because we’re gonna play Nicaragua first, then Guatemala the second day and Panama. So we’ll be able to get our feet wet and we take every country, not lightly. We respect everybody and we’re not taking anything for granted. Every time you step on a floor, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you got to respect your opponent.”
Julian Murillo
“We feel we put together the most potent team ever produced in Belize. We’ve very pleased that we have re-engaged a number of the marquis players that have competed for us in 1998. They have garnered much more experience. We’ve also added some new faces, some of which coach Seroki just went over. So we feel our chances are extremely high.”
If you would like to see the team in action, coach Seroki says that Friday night at the City Center, the team will be having an open practice for the public at seven.
