Latest update April 1st, 2025 5:37 PM
YBG host seminar, reward players and teams
Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG), the nation’s leader in junior basketball events and host of the National Schools’ Basketball Festival (NSBF), on Sunday hosted a workshop and a presentation ceremony following the completion of two zones on Saturday.
The NSBF East Coast and Georgetown playing Conferences concluded on Saturday with Marian Academy winning in Georgetown and Plaisance Secondary School winning on the East Coast to bring those two zones to a climax before the national playoffs.
The seminar/workshop, which was held at Marian Academy’s Auditorium, was well attended as junior basketball prodigy, Akeem ‘The Dream’ Kanhai lectured to those present on the 
life of an academic-athlete among other presentations, which came, for instance, from Social Worker, John Greaves who talked about the perils of drug use and abuse.
Kanhai addressed the struggles of juggling both sport and school, which was well received while Greaves talked about marijuana, tobacco and alcohol consummation and consequences. Further, Co-Director of YBG, Chris Bowman gave some insight on the purpose of the workshop and the goals.
“This is a part of YBG that is not always highlighted, everybody is seeing what YBG is doing on the court, but I think the most important part of YBG work is what we are doing to reeducate and to train and teach and change the mentality of players,” Bowman said.
“We are able to do that through player’s education seminar, this was a very successful player’s education seminar we would have had; it was well-organised,” he continued, adding that those who spoke will ultimately help players make better choices.
Bowman then recognised the work of Digicel, who is a main sponsor of the tournament, not just at the competition level but as part of the young player’s education process.
“Digicel this year, in addition to committing to the trophies and administration and sponsorship as we know it to the tournament, specifically zoomed in on player’s education, so they were able to find a facilitator,” Bowman informed the gathering.
“They were one of the main sponsors for this part; it was very positive and the main purpose of this is to talk to the players and change the mind set in basketball; what we need are not just good players, but more intelligent players,” Bowman observed.
Director of Sport, Neil Kumar and Digicel’s Events and Sponsorship Manager, Gavin Hope also spoke and highlighted the need for such programmes in the development of sports. Both officials took part in the Presentation Ceremony following the workshop.
Marian Academy and Plaisance Secondary School received trophies for winning the Georgetown and East Coast Conferences respectively in the senior category.
In the Under-17 category, President’s College and Marian Academy received top honours for the East Coast and Georgetown Conferences while Marian Academy featured again when they received trophies and medals for winning the Under-14 category.
Plaisance’s Nikkoloi Smith copped three awards from the East Coast Conference when he won the Finals MVP, Best Defender and Leading Scorer Award with Selvaugh Moseley from Marian Academy winning three awards in the Georgetown Conference as well that included Finals MVP Award, Best Scorer and Best Rebounder Awards.
Meanwhile, the top teams in both conferences will now await the final stage of the competition when the NSBF national finals begin in July.
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