US basketball group conducts clinic in Old Harbour

The clinic was held March 23 at the Old Harbour Church of Christ basketball courts where the young prospects went through a series of basketball tenets and practice sessions led by Stewart, who is head of the Born Ready Elite basketball academy out of the United States of America.

Among the team of coaches present was pastor Ricardo Edwards, head coach of the Old Harbour High School basketball team, and from the US, two certified officials of the game.

The format of the exercise mirrors that of college basketball, Stewart said, and the event was captured on video to assess key areas of each player.

“It is to bring exposure and also help with the development of the talent that we have here,” Edwards told Harbour News in an interview. “Many a times we fall short in basketball because we are late bloomers when others are, especially in other countries, have started at a much earlier age.”

The initiative is part of a continued development plan by a group of Jamaican basketball fans in the Diaspora led of Barrington Bonito, Michael Williams among others.

Through their efforts several talented basketball players from Old Harbour have received scholarships and are presently excelling in the US high schools collegiate programmes.

Their body of work and dedication are what has attracted Stewart to come on board and be a part of the team.

“It can lead to scholarships but it’s all on the individuals and what they do,” Stewart, who spent his early life in Jamaica between Jones Town and Tivoli Gardens before migrating to the US, added.

“Obviously it’s going to be filmed,” he continued. “It’s gonna be structured in a manner which we get to highlight their strengths and some key areas to allow them to show the necessary amount of visibility to the end users who are looking to potentially add as many they can add.

“It’s a process, we definitely don’t want to make any promises, the only thing we can promise is we gonna give you some visibility to a vast majority of schools.

“We gonna do a simulated type of college practice which will allow for them to really grasp what a lot of the schools that they are vying for scholarships will focus on.”

Stewart credits Edwards for his yeoman service in helping the youngsters, many of whom came from the lower level of the socio-economic ladder.

”It’s to make basketball better, it’s to give kids more avenues to go to college for free and to get more opportunities to not be in the streets,” said Stewart. “So if soccer isn’t your thing and track isn’t your thing, then come play some basketball.”

While many of top talents began playing the game at a later age compared to kids in the US, Jamaica’s natural athleticism is a huge plus, Edwards argued.

And it is the hope of the basketball-loving pastor that this initiative will spread from out of Old Harbour throughout the entire country.

“Now this is just opening doors to the connections we do have with persons overseas to come down and give them opportunities,” Edwards said.

“But it’s not just opportunities for kids alone from Old Harbour High, it’s opportunities for kids from all over Jamaica from Kingston to as far as Montego Bay and hopefully this exposure will lead to bigger and better things.”

For more than a decade Old Harbour High, a national under-16 champion and many-time national finalists, have been ranked amongst the top high school basketball teams in the country.