Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
New international basketball structure to influence Guyana
The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) will deliver a comprehensive development plan to the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), after a thorough assessment of the level of the sport in Guyana.
FIBA Executive Director Assistant, Victor Mansure, is currently in Guyana
FIBA Executive Director Assistant, Victor Mansure (second, right) addresses the media at the New Palm Court yesterday along with other local basketball officials, from left: Andrew Hercules, Michael Singh and representative of the Berbice sub-association and representative of the National Sports Commission, Edison Jefford.
to conduct that study that he says he is to compile a report for FIBA on Guyana’s basketball status. He said that following the FIBA Congress in Hong Kong in May, the plan will be released to the local federation.
Mansure held a press conference yesterday at the New Palm Court, Main Street after his arrival in Guyana where he outlined the purpose of his visit and took questions from the media.
“We will start to establish workshops and start establishing an individual plan for each country, so expect FIBA to submit to Guyana in the next couple of months a developmental plan based on the priorities that should be worked on from this visit,” Mansure said.
The Basketball Executive, who worked with the Toronto Raptors for three years, before his role at FIBA said that the purpose of his visit is to advance the new mechanisms that FIBA would be implementing to develop the sport across the world.
He pointed out that FIBA’s interest in providing a development plan for Guyana is influenced by the fact that major changes were made in the way that FIBA will govern competitions with home and away games characterising the shift in policy.
“FIBA did some studies; they studied other international federations and decided that the system we have now don’t allow the players to be active to what we would like to be,” he stated, adding that for example the last time Guyana’s senior team played an official game at home would have been some time ago.
Mansure said that FIBA realised something was missing that allows players and teams to be a lot more active and they decided to change that by adding window periods that will allow players and national teams to play at home and away.
“So rather than playing tournaments in the summer we will play a home and away system so they are going to be windows similar to what soccer has so that teams could qualify for the next FIBA World Cup in 2019,” Mansure noted.
He noted that with the competition changes bringing in global branding and funding, the hope is for FIBA to grow financially, which would then trickle down to the national associations to fund their territorial programmes in accordance with the plan.
Mansure met with officials from the GABF, Linden, Georgetown and Berbice sub-associations as well as the National Sports Commission. His aim is to meet with all levels of stakeholders that will allow him to honestly expose the status of Guyana’s basketball to FIBA. He is scheduled for departure from Guyana on Friday.
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