HOOPERS U, a boys’ youth basketball club with players from Nassau and Exuma, just scored its biggest win yet – leaping from traveling team to an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) membership, thanks to a donation from long-time George Town, Exuma resident and developer of Turtlegrass Resort & Island Club Bob Coughlin. 

Coughlin’s donation opened the door for the team to advance to AAU status and compete against a top-tier team sponsored by NBA legend Ray Allen, 10-time NBA All-Star.  

“For the first two minutes of the game, we were in the lead,” said Franco Moncur, head coach, following the match in Deerfield Beach, Fl.  

Moncur founded Hoopers U during the COVID-19 pandemic as a virtual team activity in 2020. When the pandemic ended, he converted from zoom to real time play, expanding from Nassau to Exuma last year when he moved to the island to assume a role as phys ed and art teacher at St. Andrews Anglican School. 

He took that blended two-island team to the tourney. 

“The tournament directors were very encouraging, they kept telling us to beat him (Ray Allen’s team), but his team was just too well-oiled for us. Seeing him and being able to play against his team was not something we were expecting to happen.”  

“While we did lose the game, it was really great to meet an NBA legend,” said Moncur. 

But graduating to AAU status went beyond a single tournament experience. It exposes local team members to scouts looking for talent at the college or pro level. 

Each year, over 22,000 student-athletes play men’s college basketball across all divisions and associations in the United States. “You have people from all over the US looking at the kids. Before Bob’s donation, we were just a travelling team,” said Moncur, who met Coughlin in person for the first time two weeks ago when the Coughlin Family Foundation donated $250,000 to the school where Moncur teaches, St. Andrew’s Anglican in George Town. 

“Bob is adopting us and seeing what else he can do for us. His contribution is not a one and done,” said Moncur.

He praised Coughlin’s support that he said not only covered food, expenses and ground transportation, but afforded the team the opportunity to tour the University of Miami and St. Thomas University while in Florida for the tournament. 

“Once again, I had to be thankful to Bob because we were able to explore St. Thomas University in depth and meet admissions counsellors and participate in a student seminar where the boys learned about scholarships and programmes at the school,” said Moncur. 

“In fact, we have one kid who wants to be a meteorologist and St. Thomas University can help him with that. 

“We carried three 12th graders with us, so if they’re interested, they can jump on those immediately.”

His aim, he said, as a coach is to instil discipline and create a safe atmosphere for young men to keep them focused and out of trouble. 

Moncur’s goals are ambitious – to expand the club to other Family Islands starting with Grand Bahama and to provide better uniforms for players. 

The 24 students hailed from Exuma Christian Academy, Stuart Manor Primary, L.N. Coakley High School, St. Andrew’s Anglican School and homeschools on Exuma, and Anatol Rodgers High School, Genesis Academy, Kingsway Academy and St. John’s College. 

As for the NBA legend Ray Allen, Moncur hopes Coughlin’s initial funding leads to a longer lasting relationship with the hoops hero who finished the last two years of his 18-year NBA career winning championships alongside LeBron James for the Miami Heat. 

“We invited him to come visit Exuma,” according to Moncur. 

They are hoping it’s an invitation he will have time to accept.