By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

THE fourth DW Davis Thanksgiving Jamboree is set to take place this weekend at the DW Davis Gymnasium and according to organiser Mark Hanna, this year’s version is expected to be the biggest ever.

The tournament, featuring private and government schools in the junior and intermediate boys’ divisions, will run from Thursday to Sunday.

“I’m expecting some very good competition and a good fan base from both the private and public schools,” said Hanna, who also serves as the head coach of the DW Davis Royals.

“The kids have been working hard all year, so this is their time to come out and showcase what they have been doing.

“It’s a good time for the coaches to elevate their programme going into the season.”

Hanna said it has been two years since the tournament was held after taking a one-year break in between the staging of the inaugural tournament in 2015.

“A lot of the players who participated in this tournament have gone on to have very good seasons,” Hanna said. “So the coaches have been using this tournament to evaluate the competition.”

There are a total of 16 teams entered in the junior boys’ division, which will be broken down into four pools, while there are 10 entered in the intermediate boys’ division, which will comprise of two pools.

The teams are stacked in the pools as follows:

Junior boys

Pool 1 - DW Davis, Nassau Christian Academy, Jordan Prince Williams and Anatol Rodgers.

Pool II - St Augustine’s College, LW Young, Teleos Academy and Temple Christian.

Pool III - South Andros, St John’s, AF Adderley and Charles W Saunders.

Pool IV - Queen’s College, Mt Carmel, Temple Christian Academy and Kingsway Academy.

Intermediate boys

Pool 1 - CI Gibson, St Pedro’s, St Augustine’s College, Jordan Prince Williams and Teleos Academy.

Pool II - Doris Johnson, CV Bethel, Mt Carmel, South Andros and CC Sweeting.

DW Davis is the defending champions in the junior boys and Doris Johnson are defending champions in the intermediate boys’ division.

“We expect some keen competition because we have some very good players who came from Abaco and Grand Bahama because of Hurricane Dorian and they are scattered throughout the schools like Mt Carmel, Teleos, CI Gibson, Doris Johnson and here at DW Davis,” Hanna said.

“So I expect that they will make our programmes very strong and so the tournament should be much more competitive than it was in the past three editions. We expect some very good competition over the weekend.”

While South Andros has consented to be a part of this year’s tournament, Hanna said attempts to get Bimini to bring in their teams failed. But he said he’s pleased with the cross-section of private and public schools from New Providence participating.

The tournament comes on the heels of the Providence Basketball Club’s pre-season tournament held a couple weeks ago when three divisions were contested. The schedule for Thursday’s opening day are as follows:

3pm - DW Davis vs Nassau Christian Academy Jr

3:45pm - South Andros vs St John’s Jr

4:30pm - Queen’s College vs Mt Carmel Jr.

5:15pm - St Augustine’s College vs LW Young Jr.

5:30pm - Jordan Prince Williams vs Anatol Rodgers Jr.

6:15pm - Teleos vs Temple Christian Jr.

7pm - AF Adderley vs Charles W Saunders Jr

7:45pm - TA Thompson vs Kingsway Academy Jr