For sure VV Royals men after 30 years ranks among tops in Guyana basketball

Feb 15, 2024 Sports

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Can anything good come from Victory Valley…

Kaieteur Sports – The emergence of a group of basketball players from the small community of Victory Valley in the early 1990s, which could have been described as socially unattractive to dwell in, are now at the top of basketball in Guyana and this must be applauded.

Today, from the early beginnings in 1993 when basketball coach Linden ‘Sancho’ Alphonso and his brother Dereck pioneered to make a difference in the lives of youths when they ‘rounded up’ youths from the area, and introduced them to basketball as a means of swaying them to a better future.

In a release from the club it was mentioned that the Alphonso brothers, Linden Sancho, who was trained as a mechanic who graduated from the Linmine Technical Training Complex and Dereck who worked with the bauxite company’s Security Department, took the chance with a set of youths and “erected a makeshift backboard and rim on the flooring of a broken down house. And that was the beginning of it all. The interest it generated and some of the skills that it unearthed, suggested that we may have been on to something.”

The Alphonso brothers, who are now living overseas, returned in December to Linden for the occasion of the 30^th anniversary of the Victory Valley Royals Basketball Club which currently sits at the top of the rankings among the senior basketball clubs in Guyana.

Linden Sancho Alphonso has the distinction of being the Head Coach of the Guyana Women’s team which in 1996 won the first and only female title for Guyana which was captained by Karen Abrams at the 1996 Caribbean Basketball Confederation’s (CBC) Senior Championships.

With the will to see the youngsters given the chance to excel, Dereck sponsored two annual Under15 tournaments for boys which were played under the Linden Amateur Basketball Association where he served as Vice President, which were won by the Victory Valley Royals. Two Under17 tournaments were also played among the Linden clubs and Royals continued to show their prowess in these tournaments.

From there it was no stopping the rise of the Royals as they first became Linden champions and last year they won the Guyana Basketball Federation’s (GBF) Big 4 tournament. This tournament featured the top four clubs in Guyana and Royals were victorious, defeating Bounty Colts in the final which was played in honour of former president of the GBF Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira.

At present three of the national players from Linden are from the Victory Valley Royals Basketball Club in Yannick Tappin, Harold Adams and Orlan Glasgow. Adams and Glasgow were also members of the successful Guyana Men’s team led by Stanton Rose (Jr.) which won the first and only crown at the CBC Championships staged in Suriname and the Victory Valley Royals.

After migrating to the United States in 1999, Sancho continued his support for the club along with his brother, and this foundation set by them was continued with others such as Christopher Pollydore, Kester Jeffrey and June Harris among others who remained steadfast to the youths in that community.

According to the Alphonso’s those who stuck it out at the beginning were Alwyn Wilson, who became the first to don national colours at the junior and senior levels for Guyana, Stephen Couchman, Alfie Fraser, Damien McPherson, who later played division One basketball at Eastern Kentucky University, Troy and Kester Jeffery, Seon and Leon Harris, Mark Richards, Elbert Allen, Anson Durant, Orin Rose, Julius Gardener, the late Marvin Tyrell and Dwayne Yaw were.

When the VVR basketball club was formed the intention was, Sancho said, “To make it a two to three years project, meaning that we would have trained during that period before registration with the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA). Players like Alwyn Wilson, Couchman and Gardener had played with Wismar Pistons to get some experience. Then the focus, as it remains until today, was to have a nursery and because of this, while they are among the best at the senior level, with players also on the National team, they still have annual basketball clinics for players starting from Under 8 through to Under 17 levels.”

The club also for ten years had perhaps the best schools basketball championships across Guyana which was staged in Linden.

Strange but true, in all these years the club has been unable to have a home court to demonstrate its true development after three decades of excellence on the court. From that early beginning they still use a makeshift half court in the neighbourhood and at times occupy the New Silvercity hard court where they face a challenge from the football players in that community for space.

One must commend the Alphonso brothers for their pioneering effort and those who have remained true to the cause for those youths within that community which should be proud to know that former number one ranked professional boxer Terrence Alli emerged from there as is Guyana’s most decorated Carifta Games athlete Chantobra Bright.

At present, three of the national players from Linden are from the Victory Valley Royals Basketball Club in Yannick Tappin, Harold Adams and Orlan Glasgow, with Adams and Glasgow being part of the Guyana Men’s team which won the first and crown at the CBC Championships staged in Suriname.

 

 

 

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• Harold Adams and Orlan Glasgow, Kester Jeffrey and June Harris, Linden 'Sancho' Alphonso, Pollydore, Yannick Tappin

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