By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

A new basketball initiative for high school boys teams called the Caribbean Tip Off Classic has been launched by the Bahamas Basketball Federation in conjunction with the Courtyard Marriott Hotel.

Federation first vice president Mario Bowleg, accompanied by Steve Barnes and David Maron, made the official announcement on Monday at the Courtyard Hotel, represented by Samantha Frazier.

Scheduled for November 2-4, the inaugural event will be staged at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium and will attract the best high school teams from the Bahamas, the United States and Canada.

Showcase

"The Bahamas Basketball Federation to proud to have this showcase where we will be able to feature Bahamian basketball players, not only from the Bahamas, but also those that are playing with the teams in the United States and Canada," Bowleg said.

Barnes, who serves as the organiser of the classic, said Caribbean Sports Travel, a group he brought to the Bahamas to provide avenues for a lot of sporting events to the country, is happy to include the Caribbean Tip-Off Classic on its agenda.

"In working with Mario with the Bahamas Basketball Federation over the years as the technical director and helping to assist with Bahamas basketball, what I've learnt in the last 5-6 years is that the community could really use somebody to organise for the community," Barnes said.

"I know so much complaints of groups coming from the outside and they do their business and make a home. Our group believes in being home grown, development of the youth, development of the community, development of tourism, so our goal is to start off this showcase and let people see that we are doing top notch first class events."

Barnes said this is the first of many things to come and they will be branching out to incorporate more of the sporting bodies like soccer and volleyball in the future.

Maron, who has run a national prep tournament in New England for more than 20 years, is collaborating with Barnes to ensure that the community benefits from a huge first class Bahamian community event.

"We wanted to make this a Bahamian event where coaches from the US would attend and they would find the next DeAndre Ayton or Buddy Hield, who are under the radar right now, but would be able to play in the US.

"If not that, someone who can give a D1 scholarship to a Bahamian kid," Maron said.

Goal

To accomplish their goal, Maron said they looked to securing some of the traditional high school powerhouses in the US, including Brewster Academy, which features Bahamian 6-10, 2-05-pound centre Kai Jones.

Along with Jones, Maron said they are hoping to attract six players in the top 150 in the 2019 High School class and two players in the top 150 in the 2020 class.

Putnam Science Academy from Connecticut that featured 15 D1 players, as well as St Thomas More, which produced NBA player Andre Drummond, and Redemption Christian Academy are all scheduled to be here to participate from the United States.

Heading the list coming out of Canada will be Crestwood Prep, which featured Grand Bahamian Franco Miller Jr, who has signed to play with Ole Miss University next season. Romard Dean is also on Crestwood's roster.

British Colombia Christian Academy, featuring Samuel Hunter, who just played on the men's national basketball team, will also be coming in from Canada to play.

Additionally, there will be a team from Europe called the Helsinki Basketball Academy, which has produced some NBA players.

"Every game, a NBA team will be allowed to attend.

"I've gotten quite a bit of interest from NBA teams who want to see the development of some of the kids," Maron said.

"The way we are doing our match-up, we will have a Canadian team playing an American team.

"That game will feature a player who is talented enough for the NBA draft and could be playing in the NBA."

Each participating team, according to Maron, will play up to two to three games.

There will be at least seven games played each of the three days and the players will also get the opportunity to dine and socialise at the Junkanoo Beach and will be given opportunities for excursions such as jet-skiing and snorkeling.

Barnes said they intent to make the Caribbean Tip-Off Classic an annual event, but they want to make sure that the initial one is a tremendous success.