By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE 2023 Hoopfest in Paradise High School Basketball Tournament is all set to be one for the books with 10 teams scheduled to compete at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday. The home teams are two squads from the New Providence private and public schools, leaving Grand Bahama on the outside looking in.

The Grand Bahama All- Star team, who competed at last year’s inaugural Hoopfest in Paradise, were notified on Tuesday that they would not be included in the second edition of the basketball tourney.

Despite practicing for as long as two weeks in preparation for the tournament, the team’s coach Jay Phillipe had the difficult job of informing players and their parents that they would not be playing this time around. “I was notified that Team Grand Bahama will not be competing at the upcoming High School basketball showcase this weekend. This was a decision beyond my control. I feel as though we were ready and quite capable of competing at that level to represent Grand Bahama,” Phillipe said.

The head coach was informed by an official of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture that funding played a role in the team being dropped from the end of year tournament.

Kelsie Johnson-Sills, acting director of sports, defended the MOYSC and stated that a miscommunication between involved parties resulted in this decision.

“The Ministry is in a financial position to support any venture, especially the development of our young men and women in any sport, not only basketball.

“We were ready to move forward with bringing the team down, unfortunately there was a miscommunication between the ministry and the coordinators so this is the end result,” she said.

Glenn Smith, the event’s organiser, said he expected the team from Grand Bahama to compete but, upon his arrival on Tuesday, he was told that the team would not be participating.

Among the teams expected to take the floor at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday are Faith Family Academy, Riviera Preparatory Schools, Lake Highland Preparatory School, Etiwanda High School, Desoto High School, Link Academy, Dynamic Preparatory, Mater Dei and Long Island Lutheran High School.

Valdez “VJ” Edgecombe, who grew up in Bimini, is currently a five-star prospect and will play with the Lutheran High School on Friday and Saturday. Phillipe said being dropped from the tournament was disappointing because they were looking forward to playing against Edgecombe.

“It was disappointing because we really wanted to come there to compete, especially because VJ Edgecombe, who is from Bimini, is playing for New York and got his opportunity by playing in this same showcase before. We think it is unfair that two Nassau teams, private and public, have a chance to play rather than having one Grand Bahama team or even have two Nassau teams but give Grand Bahama a chance to showcase their talent,” he said.

The public and private New Providence teams will be coached by Kevin “KJ” Johnson and Dario Burrows respectively.

The top basketball tourney will get underway today at 12:30pm.