Sunrise Christian Academy has had a tremendous history of Bahamian players participating on their Buffalo men’s basketball team. Now they have added JR Cadot as an assistant basketball coach.

In the one season he’s been there so far, Cadot has helped to push the Nike EYBL Scholastic Conference team from number 25 to No.13 in the country on the ESPN ranking.

Sunrise Christian Academy, located in Wichita, Kansas, was able to help groom such Bahamian players as Chavano “Buddy” Hield from the Golden State Warriors and Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr, now an associate head coach for the Bowling Green Falcons. 

Both were former collegiate players like Cadot, who played for Texas Christian University and was a former professional player and is now the founder and president of JRC Basketball Academy International. His expertise has landed him the job at Sunrise Academy, who last year had five of their former players selected in the NBA draft by the  Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Detroit Pistons, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets.

Cadot, who received pre-draft workouts with both the Rockets and Bulls, but didn’t get a shot to play in the NBA, said he’s excited about the opportunity to assist in the development of the future stars of the game.

“It’s been great for me as a coach. I’ve learned a lot of new things at this level, the highest level of high school basketball in America,” he said. 

“So it’s been an awesome experience. It’s definitely been a humbling experience. It has allowed me to learn a lot, coching guys at this level and being able to see what I can bring back to the Bahamas when I give the players there some instructions.”

Cadot, who hopes to eventually recruit some more Bahamians to attend Sunrise Christian Academy, will be back home to continue his annual summer basketball camp.

His 4th annual Nexx-Gen Elite Training Basketball Camp will take place from June 23 to July 11 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium for both boys and girls ages 7-18. 

He has also hosted camps, clinics and mentorship workshops with kids internationally in Asia, South Africa, the United States and other countries.

But, in the meantime, his focus is on trying to help the Buffaloes to go as far as they can during this basketball season.

“I definitely feel like we have the team to go all the way (to the championship),” he said. “We’re the only ones who can get in our way.

“We’re skilled enough. We have the size, probably the biggest high school team in America. The guys are grown. So my expectation is for us to go all the way and to win it all. We have everything we need to win the championship.”

Hopefully through his summer camp, Cadot said he will be looking at recruiting the next player(s) to enrol at Sunrise Christian Academy for either the post grad program, regular team or the elite team for the Buffalos.

“With me being here at Sunrise, I think it’s a blessing because we’ve had some very good players who have gone through this program and I can now try to continue that legacy,” Cadot said.

“So when I get back home in the summer, I will take a look at the kids who have the opportunity to play at this level and to see how I can make it possible for them to be recruited by a Bahamin, something that I didn’t have when I was playing.”

When the camp takes place in the summer, Cadot is encouraging as many players as possible to attend. He noted that he won’t be competing with the coaches in Nassau, but he wants to enhance the atmosphere so that the players with the potential can improve their chances to play at the next level overseas.

“I’m just coming to help them to enhance their chances if they desire to go abroad and continue their education and play basketball at the same time,” Cadot stressed.

“God has blessed me with this opportunity to coach at Sunrise Christian Academy and so I want to be a blessing to some of the players in the Bahamas.”

He noted that he anticipated a great turnout for the summer camp because it’s centrally located at Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium and there is something special that he will impart to the participants.