The Bahamas national basketball team comprising of NBA stars such as Buddy Hield is set to play in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela. At a press conference held at the national stadium on August 23rd, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, the Hon. Mario Bowleg spoke about his confidence in the team. He said, “…congratulations to the coaching staff, president of the BOC, who is here, because him along with me anticipate us moving to the next level. And most importantly, I say thanks to the corporate sponsors who come along in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to ensure that the Bahamas Basketball Federation and this national team continue to leap to higher and higher heights.”
Coaching the team is Chris Demarco who says that practices have been intense. He also said, “we’ve had training camp this week, its been incredible, its been the best turnout. I’ve seen, yesterday we had twenty one people in the gym. It was really high level and we’re still selecting the team right now. We don’t have our final twelve yet…its been really competitive and again its been the best I’ve seen.”
NBA player, Buddy Hield, extended an invitation to fans to come out to the game. He said, “the energy we had last game was great. Now we didn’t get the victory that we wanted to but we got to the next round but having yall support and you guys behind our back means a lot for the players and the environment is great. A lot of these guys don’t get to play home much and to see you guys come out and support us each time we’re here means a lot for the players and much for us and we feed off the energy. Thanks to all of the sponsors.”
Mychel Thompson, son of NBA great Mychal ‘Sweet Bells’ Thompson said, “I’m really happy to be here. Every time I get to put on this jersey, it means a lot to me because my dad never got to do it. I’m very proud to be Bahamian. It means so much to be here. We appreciate everything. The fans coming out last time was amazing. We can definitely use that again cause they kept us in the game even when we weren’t playing our best. These two games are very important. The Bahamas has never been this far in qualifying events so I’m very excited for this game on Thursday and ready to get moving.”
The Bahamas team will play the Venezuelan team this Thursday.
