By Tenajh Sweeting

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Basketball Federation (BBF), in conjunction with the Jr National Basketball Association (NBA) programme, hosted a coaches and player development clinic on Friday at the Kendal GL Isaacs Gymnasium.

The successful hosting brought out 50 youth athletes (girls and boys) and 50 local coaches from all levels of basketball. 

The Jr NBA coaches clinic was facilitated by senior women’s national basketball team coach Yolett ‘Coach Yo’ McPhee-McCuin and senior men’s national basketball team coach Chris DeMarco along with other officials.

Coach Yo, who is also the head coach of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels, thoroughly enjoyed working with the coaches that showed up on Friday. “I was pleasantly surprised with how many coaches showed up. They were engaged and I have a connection with Bahamian people so when I had a chance to get in there it was like we picked up where we never started. It was great and I wanted to give them some gems. I was inspired by them coming out because sometimes I feel like I am not sure if people really care about basketball in The Bahamas anymore. They like it when they see Deandre, Buddy and Jonquel but who is the next? They have to have the tools to be able to help,” McPhee-McCuin said.

The coaches were engaged in offensive and defensive drills and had the opportunity to pick up some coaching gems shared during the clinic.

Grand Bahama native Coach Yo shared some of the tips she passed on to the coaches in attendance.

“Sometimes, you cannot be what you cannot see so sometimes just my presence provides inspiration. Secondly, I wanted to give them something that was unique so the way we got it out of bounds with the 1-3-1 defence is very unique. I thought it was a great opportunity to be in here with them for them to see this is something we can use and really be a force to reckon with in their own programmes. Then, I shared the story about me coaching with the men’s basketball team because I wanted to encourage them to never stop wanting to learn,” she said.

As for DeMarco, he assisted with both the Jr NBA coaches clinic and the player development clinic. The young basketball players got the opportunity to work with Portland Trail Blazers centre Deandre Ayton and were awarded Jr NBA paraphernalia and sneakers during the clinic.

The Golden State Warriors assistant coach expressed how important it was for the BBF and Jr NBA programme to collaborate on this development initiative.

“I think the coaches clinic in general is a huge piece of development. A lot of times we talk about player development but there is also a coaching development aspect. We have been trying to get this together and are really thankful for Deandre Ayton and the Jr NBA to be able to put this together along with the Bahamas Basketball Federation.

“We just got together and talked about offence, defence, and talked about team building and the culture. The hope is just that even if it is just a little bit everybody got better today and they are able to teach some of what we were talking about,” the Golden State Warriors assistant coach said.

Anastacia Sands-Moultrie, who serves as head coach of the SAC senior girls basketball team, found the coaches clinic to be very informative.

“It was nice and very informative. I am glad to see that a lot of coaches came out but we could’ve had some more female coaches that came out. Other than that, we got a lot of offence and defence strategies and learned how to adjust our offence and defence. We also learned how to work our practices and games and how to break it down,” she said.

The highschool head coach explained the significance of the Jr NBA coaches clinic from her perspective as a coach.

“They are very important because it makes you change your mindset on some of the things that we have been doing over the years. It also makes us see it at another level in terms of helping the players to come along and improve their game as well,” she said.

The Jr NBA programme focuses on helping to develop the skills and fundamentals of girls and boys globally while teaching them the core values of the game. The programme caters to youth basketball at all levels and extends the learning experience to coaches and parents.