The Noble Preparatory Academy Spring Basketball Classic kicked off Thursday night at the Kendal Isaacs National Gymnasium.
With over 20 teams competing in this year’s event, the classic will feature both senior girls and junior boys divisions for the first time. As usual, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) will receive a full athletic scholarship to Niagara College in Ontario, Canada.
“All year some kids play a lot of games with no real reward at the end, just a handshake and trophy,” said tournament organizer Geno Bullard.
“So, with this tournament, we actually try to help these kids out by allowing them to play for something that’s real and something that can truly benefit them in the future. Also, we are having a college expo and career advisors present, to help these athletes try and figure out what the next step is. Not everyone has an NCAA college offer, and many of these kids will never get one. But that doesn’t mean life has to end.
“These are student-athletes. The key word there is student, and I think that’s something that is often times overlooked here in The Bahamas. We need to stop living in the moment, and truly come together and try to help our youth, instead of letting pride stand in the way.”
In Wednesday’s senior boys games, C.R. Walker edged Akaphran Academy 54-50 and Temple Christian defeated St. John’s 56-49. Junior boys and girls game begin today. The NPA Spring Classic resumes at 4:00 p.m. at Kendal Isaacs.
Anatol Rogers won last year’s classic, and Dominic Bridgewater was named tournament MVP and was also named to the All-Tournament team.
Other players selected to the All-Tournament team were Francisco McKinney (Leadership Academy), Andre Hepburn (C.V. Bethel), Renard McDonald (C.R. Walker), Cordero Seymour (St. Anne’s) and Stephen Augustin (NPA).
