Belize’s Under 12 and Under 15 basketball teams returned home
yesterday from a regional tournament in Guatemala as sub champions. Both teams
won silver in the Central American tournament held last week at the Quetzalteco
Stadium in Quezaltenango, Guatemala. Brads Neal was the coach for the Under
12 and Mathew Smiling was the coach for the Under 15 team. They discussed the
tournament results with the buzzer beater by Frederick Roach Williams.
Brads Neal, U-12 Coach
“What the young Williams did is something we practice everyday and
when he did it was phenomenal, it didn’t touch the rim and didn’t
touch anything – it was picture perfect. We’ve had some tremendous 
players; Zachary Usher, he was tall and he played tall. He was the big man in
the tournament, he went up against the Guatemalan big man and he matched him
-shot for shot, block for block, that was phenomenal. They clashed for two quarters.”
Mathew Smiling, U-15 Coach
“To me the standout was Santiago Clarke from San Ignacio, I think
he is also the MVP for the primary school tournament. For me that is my standout.
We lost a guy that I didn’t think we should have lost so the competition
is not above us. They are more organized, they practice more, they are together
with the national team, the players with the national longer, some of them for
four years, and so they are organized than us.”
Brads Neal,
“We didn’t expect to play as well as we played or seed as high
as we seeded so saying that and when you beat the host country, that has a lot
to say. Both teams beat the host country so we were just excited. Overall the
tournament was outstanding, I think our kids really performed well. The expectation
was high and I just believe that it is time Belize puts a core group of players
together as a national program in different age categories and hopefully in
the future we could see what raw home grown talent is.”
Both coaches commended the interest of parents who travelled to Guatemala
to support their children and the teams.
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