Ginelle Ifill gets full US Basketball Scholarship

Aug 21, 2014 Sports

By Edison Jefford
Guyana’s female team’s participation at the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Confederation

Ginelle Ifill, representing Guyana at the Inter-Guiana Games in Guyana, finishes a fundamental lay-up.

(CBC) Championships in the British Virgin Islands last month paid dividend for locally-based player, Ginelle Ifill, who has secured a full basketball scholarship.
The fundamentally sound Ifill was scouted at CBC and will leave Guyana next week for a full scholarship at Odessa College in Texas, United States of America. The 19-year-old 6’3″ player has been at the helm of local female basketball for some time.
Contacted yesterday after confirmation that the player is all set to leave Guyana next week, the top athlete said that she is excited that all her hard work, discipline and commitment to the sport have finally paid off, and as a result, the sky is the limit.
“I am excited and I really appreciate this very much because it shows that once you’re discipline you can achieve your dreams,” Ifill believes, adding that she was not 100 percent sure that there would have been this result, following the CBC experience.
She informed that scouts had spoken to her about the scholarship, but she was hesitant to commit owed to doubt. However, Ifill said she overcame such thoughts when she was contacted with the information that Odessa College wants her in their programme.
Asked about her future now that she is on path to become one of Guyana’s most celebrated female athletes, Ifill said that she plans to get her College degree while remaining in line to play in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) League.
“My plan is to play in the WNBA after College. I have to go to school and keep my grades up. I would just like to thank everyone for their support,” she said. Ifill attended Tutorial High School and resides in Plaisance on the East Coast of Demerara – a village that has also produced Wayne ‘Big Truck’ Braithwaite and Guyana’s most renowned musician, Eddy Grant.
President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), Nigel Hinds told Kaieteur Sport yesterday that Ifill’s scholarship vindicates the federation’s decision to send a female team to the CBC Championships against criticism and all odds.
According to Hinds, the scholarship shows that if players are consistently exposed then there is no telling what they can achieve. He wished Ifill well and hopes that she uses the opportunity to advance what can be very fulfilling basketball and academic careers.